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WRESTLING COLUMNS
Why Are We Afraid of Hassan"
July 25, 2005 by Zakkari Tyler
Upon hearing the news that Vince McMahon caved in to the UPN network execs regarding the character of Muhammad Hassan, I was very disappointed! That disappointment stems from the fact that Hassan's character was never given a fair opportunity.
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WWE initially wanted to make the point that there are hundreds of thousands of good hearted Arab-American people that post 9/11 have not gotten a fair shake. In the first few vignettes that Hassan & Daivari were in, they appeared to be laying the ground work for something wrestling has never seen...Babyface Arab characters!! A GREAT IDEA...Right" Well, let's be honest, since 9/11 most Americans associate Islam & Arabs with terrorism. Especially in the current political climate, it could have been very beneficial to show an Arab as something other than the typical stereotype, but after the very quick negative response the (American) crowd gave Hassan & Daivari, it was virtually impossible to avoid becoming anything BUT another stereotype.
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Was I the only one REALLY paying attention to what Hassan ACTUALLY said" Not once did he imply that terrorism was right, NEVER did he use religion to justify himself or his actions, & NEVER did he sympathize with Al-Qaida. On a regular basis he supplied facts to back up his claims. He was an Arab-American who turned his back on his country ONLY after they turned their back on him. So why was Hassan perceived him as a terrorist" Because of his "ethnicity" & the incident a couple of weeks ago on SD! which garnered lots of negative press. I'll admit the timing, with the bombings in London, was indeed poor, but let's analyze what ACTUALLY happened. Daivari was sacrificed to the Undertaker, who subsequently was jumped by a group of men in ski masks, choked out & left lying in the ring. That sounds to me like a typical Thursday (or Monday) night in the WWE!! Oh wait! I forgot Rule 267643-7A-paragraph C of "Post 9/11: How To Behave In America If You're a Minority" says Arabs aren't allowed to engage in any group activity without being labeled as terrorists!!
We have such a double standard when it comes to what we expect from "Americans" & "minorities". For a moment just look at JBL! Unfortunately, His "character" is not to far from the real life person! JBL is the poster boy for everything negative about America...An ignorant loud mouth, arrogant, boastful, greedy Racist! In fact, Vince pushed him to the top of the card shortly after he imitated the "Sieg Heil" arm gesture in Germany (which was against the law). Did he stop with the racist rhetoric then" No! He continued to make racist statements against Mexicans during his feud with Eddie Guerrero. It's ironic how similar the JBL & Hassan characters are, but because JBL is a "True American" he's allowed to get away with crossing the line repeatedly.
The Muhammad Hassan character made us confront something most Americans are unwilling to admit...Our own prejudice!! Even though I am not Arab-American, nor a minority for that matter, I identify with Hassan, politically!! George W. made a statement that has resonated with me for a long time, "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists". It summarizes the single track thinking that created the state we are in right now! Now I certainly don't condone terrorism at all but rather than actually consider for a brief moment in time that the "terrorists" or Hassan might actually have a legitimate complaint, we as Americans, see something that's not "our way" & would rather kick your ass than listen to you! And we have the nerve to wonder why the rest of the world is slowly turning against us! I applaud Mark Copani for having the balls to voluntarily take on the persona of an Arab-American & all prejudice that comes with it, despite not actually being of Arab descent! With all the heat he created every Monday & Thursday, there were probably at least 25 jackasses that accosted him at a restaurant, airport, etc. By getting rid of Muhammad Hassan, we have just validated his entire persona & every prejudicial statement he ever made!!
From a business standpoint, Vince is killing a cash cow by getting rid of the Hassan character...look at all the publicity that poured in after the SD! Episode! Hassan could have been A HUGE STAR...what better way to "shake things up" then to ACTUALLY shake people up with a character that on the surface is pretty controversial. They never used him in a way that made him look like an over-zealous religious fanatic or a terrorist!! The people in the ski-masks were in fact NOT Arab or terrorists either. WWE actually has a leg to stand on to fight back against the negative press. Use this opportunity to show the world the reason they hate this character is not because he's Arab but because it places a mirror in front of us as a society.
Now, personally I would prefer an edgier WWE product. I think politics & entertainment should & do go hand in hand. I loved the Muhammad Hassan character for one reason... His character was started to combat stereotypes, but we all knew that with all the flag waving, nationalistic, American jackasses that claim to be WWE fans, he was destined to fail...& we wanted him to but he found a way to succeed, by attacking all the top guys, manipulating his friends to do his dirty work & most importantly, did whatever it took to win!...Now that my friends, like it or not, IS Truly The American Way!!
by Zakkari Tyler ..
Joecool1 wrote:
I was motivated to want to write a column about this myself, but you did it justice Zakkari. I feel exactly as you do. I think JBL's politics is disgusting. I've seen that Hassan was hated for his race alone. He wasn't a terrorist. His "henchmen" weren't terrorists. I mean for God's sake this is wrestling! When did the mainstream media ever take wrestling serious before" Why start now"
It's all a distraction by a corrupt government trying to pull everything unimportant before your eyes to distract from their own mistakes, first Janet Jackson's breasts now Hassan being a terrorist" From Terry Shaivo to Michael Jackson. When do we stop acting like Charlie Brown lunging for the football, when he knows Lucy is going to pull it away" I'm sure George Bush is going to put Hassan on his "Axis of Evil" and have him hunted down, only the moron (and his followers who most likely lodged the complaints with all their free time) doesn't realize the character isn't real.
Why are the viewers who complained writing and calling in to UPN about Hassan when our leaders STILL haven't gotten Bin Laden" We have Saddam but he was not behind the 9-11 attacks. Sure, he was a bad guy as well, but it's like focusing on an ant hill when you have a mountain to climb.
The sad thing is Hassan was getting bigtime heat and while some of the things done was tasteless (especially airing the segment on the night of the terrorist attacks in London which could have been put off a week) it is wrestling. It's fake! It's no different from movies as far as storylines, with the possible except of Matt-Lita-Edge having a little more reality to it than most other stories. I liked Hassan and think his loss will be a big one even after initially not liking the character. He grew on me by fighting the stereotypes. RIP : Muhammad Hassan
CHRIS A. wrote:
You are absolutely, postively right. The Hassan character was killed off because of people who couldn't handle what he was saying. Hassan was saying things that all people in the country needed to hear. Now what. He's probably going back to OVW to never be seen on WWE television again.
Dave Hanson wrote:
I felt I had to respond to this article because I've been a big fan of Hassan's since the beginning. I too, agree that most people didn't seem to be listening to the things Hassan actually said, and I hated seeing him get destroyed in squash matches against Hogan, HBK, Cena, and Batista, when I would rather have seen him feuding over the IC title with Shelton Benjamin. However, while I agree that it is a double standard that JBL can get away with making almost non-stop racist and class-ist remarks on television while Hassan gets raked over the coals, I do think that the fault for the segment in question lies with the creative department of WWE. I am not stupid enough to give them the benefit of the doubt that they never thought people would see the connection between that segment and terrorism even if the London bombings hadn't happened. I think they were banking on it to get people's tempers raised, and then it backfired when tempers got raised a little too much. The fact is that some dumbass in the back said, "Hey let's have Hassan do a kinda terrorist attack on the Undertaker!" without thinking that it goes against the entire point of Hassan's character, which is "I am not a terrorist just because I am Arab American." And the whole thing with the guys carrying Daviari's body out of the ring like he was a martyr" Please. WWE's writers were thinking "terrorist attack" the whole way through, I don't buy the "acciedental similarity" angle for a second. They screwed up Hassan's character by having him do that segment in the first place, and they ruined Hassan's career by making him the scapegoat for the writer's mistakes. This is just a more extreme version of what happened to Matt Morgan; they gave him a stupid gimmick that no one with an IQ over 12 would have ever thought could have worked, and then they fired him because it didn't work. Because hey, if a gimmick doesn't work, it's the wrestler's fault for not pulling it off, right" What crap. This is just another case of Vince and the rest of WWE's top dogs making someone else the scapegoat for their own mistakes. I thought of Hassan as one of the brightest up-and-coming stars in the industry, maybe one of the two or three best heels in the company, with a great future ahead of him, and now it's totally washed down the toilet because of one poorly thought-out segment. Shame on the WWE for ruining a great career before it even got off and running.
Barker wrote:
Yes I agree with you that Hassen is not getting the
chance to prove himself. hassen was given a gimick and
he was running with it and doing a very good job. The
fact that WWE wouldn't protect Hassen's gimick is
stuped. They gave him the gimick and tell him what he
is suppose to do and then when he does it and there is
bad press WWE is blaming Hassen. Hassen was tring to
do the American Dream, by stepping on others to get
what He wanted as most Americans do. The fact that WWE
didn't back him shows how uncaring they really are.
Jose Perez wrote:
100% True brother. I know this article will get a HUGE response, but you are 100% right. I'm not here to talk politics and terrorism, but what Hassan said was all true, American has become prejudice, and this proves it. Hassan never said anything about being a terrorist, nor being in favor, all he talked about was the prejudice the arabs recieved, and long behold the americans "kill him" cuz of it. The same americans who yell out "FREEDOM FOR ALL". How come the catholics never asked for UT to be removed for making "sacrifices"...and that's right, cuz the americans have their ass so far up their asses, that since the "sacrifices" are not against their country, it's AOK. No wonder terrorism is how it is, this is exactly why terrorism exists, cuz of the hatred created by the americans, and their hypocritical stands. Like it or not, it's my opinion, and I think it's true.
Glenn Turner wrote:
Thankyou Zakkari Tyler, for pointing out the facts and that Muhammad Hassan isn't a terrorist, just a brilliant sports-entertainer, The Undertaker talks about sacrifices, noone moans, JBL (as you said) does an ILLEGAL and offensive hand gesture in Germany, WWE does nothing, an abortion storyline getting out of hand wasn't moaned about so, what makes Muhammad Hassan "so offensive" as far as I'm concerned, Muhammad Hassan and his gimmick and storylines up to date have been good TV and are in no way any more offensive than the storylines mentioned previously. After all this has been said and done there is only one positive to the end of Muhammad Hassan, (as you said) HE WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG!!!
Rey Trejo wrote:
Hassan is supposed to be an Arab American. Most Arabs are Muslims. Some are terrorists. Those that aren't refuse to point out the bad people in their group.They also say "We understand why some members of our religion choose to kill themselves and innocent people."
So in my book until the "innocent" Muslims and Arabs come out and point out the bad people in there group and say that killing innocents is terrible all of them are guilty.
kendra sheppard wrote:
Actually I'm not afraid of hassan after what I saw at the bash last night all I can say is that a**hole got exactly what he had coming courtesy of the undertaker last night let's face it hassan's an idiot and you know what I'm glad he's gone tv and I hope we never hear his voice ever again.
Eric S. wrote:
Zakkari, I was listening to what Hassan actually said in his promos. I'll agree
that his message was positive in an overall sense. Talking about equal rights
for his ethnic group, I obviously wondered why he was getting booed and yelled
at by the babyfaces on the roster. But I think you're mistaken in a couple of
points.
It seems pretty obvious that the WWE was never laying the groundwork for
babyface Arab-American characters. His initial teaser promos were aired to
silence, and though they started out as a calm man looking for equality, each
successive teaser showed an angry young man that was going to beat his sense of
justice into the WWE whether they liked it or not. By the time he made his
first live appearance on Raw, he was already getting booed because he had taken
a heel stance. He wasn't saying "America is flawed, let's fix it." He was
saying "You Americans are flawed, so I'm going to beat some sense into you."
The problem is the character was never properly motivated. It's not like he had
any real obstacles to gripe about in WWE. He said he wasn't given fair
treatment or given a shot. Well, he was hired wasn't he" We was put on the
flagship show, given matches against veteran stars. Given title shots. So he
wasn't invited to Wrestlemania, he'd only been the company a couple months. He
really had nothing to complain about. JR and Jerry Lawler instructed us to be
wary of this fellow. Why" Lawler mentioned on more than one occasion that
Hassan was basically right on the subject of treatment of Arab-Americans. He
apparently just didn't like the way Hassan was delivering his message. If they
were going to make Hassan a heel they shouldn't have had him making a logical
argument.
You say that JBL is also a racist character, and he's being tolerated unlike
Hassan. How so" He claims to be a great American and he gets booed out of the
building week after week. It's pretty obvious to me that the WWE has a
conservative, Republican slant, yet they've made a conservative Republican their
number one bad guy. He made fun of Mexicans in his feud against Guerrero, and
got booed for it the same way Hassan got booed for making fun of Americans. And
when JBL gave a "heil Hitler" in Germany, it got him fired from his job on Fox
News. Maybe if there had been an international incident regarding Nazis that
day, UPN would have demanded his removal too.
As for the Undertaker beatdown not being a terrorist strike ... come on. Guys
in camou fatigues with ski masks" Did you think they were bank robbers" I'm
sure the only reason they were in masks was because they didn't have enough
people on the roster who could pass for Arab-Americans, so they were hiding
their ethnicity. But the whole mention of sacrificing Daivari, coupled with a
militant group attacking Taker, to carrying off Daivari like that, it was
obviously meant to imitate a terrorist attack. I'll agree that they are mixing
their Arabic stereotypes with terrorist tactics, and that's offensive, but there
was definitely a hint of terrorism in there. Arab-Americans can't engage in
group activities without being deemed terrorists" No, I guarantee if Hassan had
simply "hired" six other heel wrestlers in their normal ring attire to attack
Taker, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
So where does this leave us" I agree that the fans were certainly quick to boo
a character who is a paper-thin "evil foreigner." I guess that says something
about wrestling fans, at least at the live shows, who will boo anyone that says
something bad about America. But WWE turned the fans against him first, by
having him take a heel stance long before he ever debuted in front of an
audience. The fact that they gave him so little heel script and he wound up so
hated by the crowd is either evidence to how anti-Arab the crowd is, or how good
Hassan's delivery is. I think it's a little of both, actually.
Final thought: I don't for a minute believe that WWE is done with the Hassan
character. For those that didn't tune in, both Velocity and Heat replayed the
terror cell attack on Undertaker, so Spike TV obviously didn't voice the same
objections that UPN did. Which means it's only a matter of time until Hassan
shifts to Raw, with all his newfound publicity backing him up.
Kevin Roberts wrote:
VIVA MUHUMMAD HASSAN, who is now one of my faovrite wrestlers, simply for his antics and the impact he has made on our society. Good job. I mean, people really hate this guy (ie. kendra sheppard). I've said it before and I'll say it again, Muhummad Hassan is a super heel, he's supposed to piss people off, NO MATTER WHO IT IS. There appear to be some overly-sensitive (gay) people who are taking a CHARACTER from a sports-ENTERTAINMENT show way too seriously. Ha Ha Ha! (wussies). Call me controversial, but I'm a black, non-muslim, non-racist guy and I love guys like Hassan and JBL because of their characters. I often immitate my favorite wrestlers and this is usually followed by uncontrollable bursts of laughter. Why " because wrestling is entertainment, and these guys are paid to do so, even if they piss people off in the process. That's entertainment and well..........."Are you not entertained"" (- Gladiator). Bring Hassan back to RAW and let him continue be the Iron Sheik of the future. Who knows, maybe him and Rene Dupre could be the next Sheik and Volkoff (wishful thinking). Watch out fellow marks, Eugene is next on the media chopping block, so let's get behind him and not let the "darkside" get to him like they're trying to do Muhummad Hassan.
Erkka Järvinen wrote:
Amen. Though i dont agree what ppl said on JBL, i respect the man for having
balls. He says everything that comes to his mind and bows for nobody. JBL is not
an idiot, truth just simply hurts many people.
Maynard Rulez wrote:
Though im upset with Hassan leaving, i believe your looking at things from only one side of the field. Its true JBL gets off after saying racist things and being an ass. Maybe it is because hes an american. Hassan doesn't get away with BECAUSE HES ARAB. Its not about being prejudice against Arabs, its about the concern for the negative way in which Arabs are being portrayed, within the WWE. He is a heel, he does heelish acts..despite the fact that he might speak some truth, hes still portrayed as a ass and a heel.
Hassans first Video promos came off ENTIRELY as a face. Though he was pushed into being a heel through the fans racist reaction to him. WWE was forced to take Hassan down another path, because of the fans down right wrong reaction to the man. To that degree, i do agree with racism from americans being part of the reason why the downward spiral began. Though i often wonder if it would have made for better TV had WWE Made Hassan face anyway. It would have made for one of the most complex characters ever. He would have been playing face to a crowd full of heels. He would gotten press headlines for bringing out the fact that perhaps yes, we do see arabs differently and treat them differently. He probably could have been applauded by press and other arabs for such a portrayal. It would have been interesting to say the lest. Heck even they wanted to turn him full blown heel after showing up as a face they could have just made him cross the line and try to run someone over or something. However if they originally stuck to the plan and brought him in as a face i believe it would have left allot more doors open.
I also dont understand why Vince bent over backwards for the network. UPN has been talking about pushing Smackdown to friday, and wont renew the contract. Yet Vince is trying to extent a hand to them while there slapping the product in the face. On top of that, the whole meat and potatoes of the issue(being the ski-masked wrestlers coming out), spawned FROM UPN. WWE taped the event and sent it out before the london bombings. UPN had the tape in there hands, and where the only people that could have edited that portion out, they didnt, they blamed WWE, WWE in action pushes Hassan down to OVW. What a lousy deal for Mark...hes a talented wrestler, whos awesome on the mic, and shows promise..but is in essence being punished for doing his job, by being dropping back down to OVW.
To top it all off, Vince acknowledges that maybe things went to far, and something needs to be done. But low and behold, as i watched stunned last sunday at the great american bash the ski-masked guys are back holding hassan up, and were treated to some video hype which shows the attack on undertaker which caused the whole problem being accompanied by the muslim call to prayer. WTF" Vince do you want the negative press or not" Make up your mind pal...in the mean while a great fun character is getting shafted.
Joshua Barnhart wrote:
I was actually in the middle of writing an article about this very subject. I don't get passionate very often. But this is one subject that I am passionate about. I want to know is how is this any different than the Russians of the 80s or Colonel Mustafa of the first Gulf War. I am even in the military, tasked to head over there. And I LOVED the Muhammed Hassan character. All that they are doing by killing off the character is proving that Ignorance Breeds Hate. Why should CNN and other media outlets care about something that 99.9% they shun their noses at" When was the last time that anyone other than a wrestling fan took wrestling seriously"
XxArMeBoYxX wrote:
You here have made a execellent point you have revealed something that has been obvious to all but we could not see it because we were to distracted by the arab-american gimmick if jbl the worst of them all a 100% american to say anything and get away with it....but some one who is arab-american to say something that is not even close to being rasicst or anything TO GET KILLED OFF THE SHOW are you kidding me ARE YOU KIDDING ME"
Jon F wrote:
You are 100% right about Hassan. He never offended me because I understood the gimmick, unlike UPN and the other hypocrites who just jump to conclusions.
I thought Hassan had a very bright future, he had a very good gimmick, he was good on the mic, he could wrestle, and he had a point.
But alas, his latest action was too close to terrorism according to UPN and other idiots who didn't understand his gimmick. At first I thought the controversy would be a good thing for the WWE and Hassan's character, the WWE did have a leg to stand on to fight off the negative press. I mean during the attitude era, they did allot of controversial stuff and they actually defended themselves and their superstars.
Ben Myatt wrote:
I have to say, I disagree with the majority of this column, and I've been arguing against many of these points on forums for the past few weeks now.
firstly, I am in the UK, and while I was discomforted by the fact that WWE ran this angle, what annoyed me was people rushing to defend it and say that it isnt a terrorist angle.
it replicated near movemen for movement, the actions that took place in a terrorist execution video. it had guys in ski masks strangling, in representation of decapitating, the undertaker. to say that this isnt a "Terrorist" angle makes anyone who says it either incredibly naive of overly devoted to Hassan's character.
I also feel that I have to comment on everyones attacks on UPN. lets make one thing very clear - this isnt about racism. its about business and politics. Lets face it, the people who attack UPN are, in terms of viewers, a minority of a minority - smarks inside wrestling fans. in terms of ratings, that means very little to UPN. Smackdown is on for two hours a week - they've got to think of their ratings in the rest of the week as well.
Now, when this all went public, it came out that this angle had been run on the day of the terrorist attacks, UPN were facing a backlash that would have cost them viewers, ratings and advertising money. and so they told WWE to pull a character that would have cost them money and brought them political heat.
It really isnt about Hassan at all. its about two businesses. Hassan is merely a casualty of politics.
Ryi Mysterio (from England) wrote:
I am from England and so I was shocked by the recent attacks on my contry. But still I want to thank Zakkari for a very interesting column. I agree that Muhammed Hassan was a fantastic heel and a good angle for a heel, I mean this guy made it to wrestling top guys like the Undertaker and Shawn Micheals on his gimmick alone. Also the guy was a good wrestler, he knew how to work a crowd with both his in-ring antics and his mic skills. As Zakkari said Hassan character was not a terrrorist, nor a religious fannatic.
However I think that even at the best of times the masked men that attacked the Undertaker was goin abit far, as with the Arab-American character of Hassan and masked men the first thing that comes to most peoples minds unfortunatly is terrorisum, that is the world we live in.
Still I dont agree that the WWE should have given up the character of Muhammed Hassan so easily as he was the guy people "loved to hate" and a great wrestler. Also the WWE has missed out on a major superstar and a posible good storyline of a alliance with JBL as business partners, as the Arabs are renound for there skills in business.
Mike C. wrote:
Joecool1,
Do us a favor. State you opinions on the matter at hand. This has nothing to do with the politics of George Bush or the capture of Bin Laden. And Janet Jackson has nothing to do with it either. Not everyone wants to see an "accidental" nipple slip, that is something that should be monitored by network TV. You said this was wrestling, and thus it was fake, but your using real life examples to make your point.
Mike W wrote:
Great job on this article. And just like you, I don't think people actually LISTED to what Hassan had to say, and they just labeled him, as they do with all stereotypes. The whole thing w/ the sympathizers was a great set-up going towards the GAB, and it's just sad that THAT angle was already set up before the London bombings. Since the WWE is killing off his character, I just have to ask what(if) will he come back as, and what will happen to Davari" And one more thing, Hassan SHOULDN'T have been getting squshed by Hogan, HBK, Batista, etc, he should have been gievn a fair challenges with people like Booker T, Benoit, Mysterio, Regal, and so on. His move to SD! was supposed to signify his advancement, not the end of his career.
KAGATIE wrote:
I am from England, and i have to say I totally disagree what the WWE have done to the Muhammed Hassan character. Above all, its not his fault that he was told to do this storyline, and send out "henchmen" on the undertaker. THE WWE MADE THE STORYLINE!!. Hassan is a good wrestler with even better microphone skills, and his music is legendary. The amount of boo's he gets every week shows what a great heel he makes. One of the best in the business these days. He's up there with J.B.L & Kurt Angle as far as heels go. UPN need to sort out there priorities and so do the WWE. WHAT A TALENT THEY ARE THROWING AWAY.
danny hem (from England) wrote:
I am from England but to me hassan is an interesting and realistic heel. I just can't see the problem with his character and why are they blaming mark copani, it wasn't him that came out with the Arab American deal so why blame him why not blame the wwe or the creative team. It wasn't till recently that I found out hassan wasn't an Arab, lately I found out that Mark was Italian.
Okay i guess they went to far with the masked guys but they have ended Copani's wwe career because of a gimmic that wasn't his fault he just came along at the wrong time if you ask me, yes people know hassan well for the gimmic but now he's been killed off. In my opinion Mark Copani was screwed!
Joel Gauthier wrote:
In response to what Rey Trejo wrote, your comment is one that stems from an obvious lack of understanding of the Muslim world, its culture and religion.
To say that most Arabs are Muslim is an accurate statement however this is the only fact that you stated. Not some Muslim are terrorists, a tiny percentage lean to the extremes of terrorism. Muslims who are not terrorists do not lightly say "We understand why some members of our religion choose to kill themselves and innocent people." In fact most dismiss terrorists as not true Muslims and traitors to Islam. If you do just a small amount of research into the subject, instead of jumping to your feeble minded generalizations, you would learn that one of the fundamental rules of Islam is to respect all human life, a rule that the vast majority of Muslims do.
You presume to dictate morality to a world you know nothing about. How many innocent Muslims have been killed by Americans" countless thousands of innocent Muslims have been slain in the middle east as a direct result of Americans occupation in various countries.
I am not a huge wrestling fan but I did see the piece where Hassan talked about the state of the American perception of Islam. Many of his statements were completely true and valid. Hassan proceeds to spell out I AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, and the only response the crowd could think to do in light of this huge insult to their country is to chant USA USA. I bet Rey Trejo was at home chanting along. P.S. for the record I am not Muslim
Navinder Panesar wrote:
fantastic article...i am an ethnic minority not an arab or muslim but a sikh but i have acctually been able to relate in a way of how hassan has been treated by the americans and the things that JBL is and has been let get away with. i think that he is a disgrace because he is moulding the mind of young kids who are watching and they think that is the right way to act when its not. im surprised JBL hasnt recieved even a warning even for what he did to meanie which is morally wrong because JBL has recieved such bad publicity all over the world for the way he acts and he is infact a bully..but back to Hassan who does really bring one of my own statements that i have said ever since all of the 9/11 attacks.......bush and blair invade thier country and kill thier innocent people in some cases and its called the 'fight for freedom' but they retaliate and its called torrorism.....i am in no way condeming what they did is right about 9/11 or the london bombings but what ive just said does make sense to every1. and hassan is booed and recieving all of this media attention for just speaking what he thinks is right...look at what happened at the great american bash...usually if someone was in an angle where they have recieved a last ride onto concrete as the angle stated people would go silent and think 'oh my god whats happened' but the crowd cheers that he had this happen to him which means they if it was real life and some racist bloke battered an arab in the street they likely to walk off and let it go in my mind which is a disgrace pretty much like bush in my mind
twiztid4life_muthafacko wrote:
I'm so pissed with what WWE has done. SCREW UPN! IF Americans are taking this to literally then they should all be hung by meathooks. Screw it the shit i plan to do is much more devastating then the Hassan angle. But because of the angle he is off Smackdown. The only reason why i was going to watch Smackdown is now gone. This is why America is the most HATED country in the world. For there prejudice and white authority. It makes me sick knowing they can get away with anything. Instead of bombing poor middle eastern countires that are good pure, lets bomb places like Montana, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio. For what reason no reason just so America feels the outrage of all the other countries they have let suffer. Plus how could u hate Daivari. He is an awesome in ring performer, plus he is good on the mic. That's not something you get alot of these days.Well WWE you F&*#ed it up again.
H.M wrote:
I do agree that Hassan's character was a great one and that he could have been a world champion. However, I believe WWE caved in to UPN's demands of removing Hassan because of the many negative letters WWE & UPN have received even from Arabs themselves . It's a real shame for WWE not to stand behind Hassan just because he was doing what he was told to do. I really disliked the "Terrorist Angle " and somehow I felt that WWE was gonna do a terrorist segment with Hassan , but I never thought that the timing would be that devastating. Above all, the real victim of that segment was Mark Copani and I think he now understands the double standards and prejudice real Arabs face. Another big mistake WWE made (besides airing the "terreroist segment") is putting the muslims call to prayer on their promo for Hassan vs. Taker's match at GAB. I believe WWE ruined every possible way to Hassan's comeback by doing that stupid promo that could offend millions of muslims..Lastly, WWE ended the career of a great wrestler who could have benefited the company and risen to be the top heel in the business.
Laurie B. (in England) wrote:
"Instead of bombing poor middle eastern countires that
are good pure..." - twiztid4life_muthafacko
Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. I can only assume
you meant to say "...countries that are good and pure"
in which case I'd strongly disagree with you. No
country on this earth is utterly "good" and "pure".
Every country in the world has it's fair share of
idiots, bullies, terrorists and even dumbasses in
charge of running the country.
"lets bomb places like Montana, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio.
For what reason no reason just so America feels the
outrage of all the other countries they have let
suffer." - twiztid4life_muthafacko
Good Lord, you think every American in the country
agrees with "President" Bush's terribly flawed "war on
terror"" Sure, bombing the states mentioned would kill
some emos, bullies, perhaps some neo-nazis, but it
would kill a hell of a lot of good, innocent,
hard-working people and it certainly wouldn't make
them "feel the outrage" of countries past and present
administrations have made suffer, it would most likely
make them extrememly pissed off, not regretful over
their battles in other countries. Just remember that
the public doesn't make the decision to go to war.
With all that said I have to agree with your comments
regarding the public taking this angle too seriously.
Well, short of them having hooks in their flesh
courtesy of the Cenobites from 'Hellraiser'.
Halim M. wrote:
I do agree that Hassan's character was a great one and that he could have been a world champion. However, I believe WWE caved in to UPN's demands of removing Hassan because of the many negative letters WWE & UPN have received even from Arabs themselves . It's a real shame for WWE not to stand behind Hassan just because he was doing what he was told to do. I really disliked the "Terrorist Angle " and somehow I felt that WWE was gonna do a terrorist segment with Hassan , but I never thought that the timing would be that devastating. Above all, the real victim of that segment was Mark Copani and I think he now understands the double standards and prejudice real Arabs face. Another big mistake WWE made (besides airing the "terreroist segment") is putting the muslims call to prayer on their promo for Hassan vs. Taker's match at GAB. I believe WWE ruined every possible way to Hassan's comeback by doing that stupid promo that could offend millions of muslims..Lastly, WWE ended the career of a great wrestler who could have benefited the company and risen to be the top heel in the business.
Crazy4muzikK wrote:
I am really upset with this whole deal with Muhammad Hassan. His charcater was awesome. He was a heel, a pure 100% heel, by far the best in the business in a "long time." He is 100% pure talent with great wrestling skills, excellent mic skills, and without a doubt one of the future stars in this business. We act like we have never seen wrestlers or other gimmicks in "masks." We have wrestlers from all over the world. Should we tell the Lucha Libre guys to all take off their masks. Wrestling shows have always had a masked guy somewhere. This is sports entertainment. Hassan was portraying a heel wrestler. He was doing justice with his gimmick. I saw him as the new Iron Sheik. For them to destroy his gimmick or his career is absolute crazy. I hated seeing him go to Smackdown to begin with. THis is a promising future star, no doubt. Don't destroy this guys' career for a stupid storyline written by WWE (not-so) creative team. Muhammad and Daivari are the best I have seen in a long time. Bring them back and keep their gimmicks. Maybe the timing was a bit off for this storyline but for wrestling fans, "true wrestling fans" I think we all know what to expect from the WWE and we can know what is offensive and what's not. WWE, you either like it or By God you leave it!
Krippes316G4 wrote:
I don't understand hasson's charter at all. Is the WWE trying to piss us off" Because their doing a good job. If hasson comes back that will be bad, not because he's anti American but because he's so boring. Why do the WWE give money to annoying allegedly non talented people" I can just picture vinnie Mac now siting in his office: "I know lets make a charter that hates America! Conterverue is always gets me money!" I don't care if he hates America, I just care that he is wasting my time.
Jason Daniel wrote:
First of all i understand the arguement that Hassan was "speaking the truth" on how arabs are discriminated against.But the fact is that the WWE went about this character wrong from the beginning.Hassan was a stroke of brilliance if used correctly,unfortunately this didn't happen.If they were trying to create a character that reflected how SOME Americans are unfairly abusive toward arab americans it would have been wiser to make him a face.Many of u say that Hassan wasn't a face because the American fans wouldn't allow him to be simply because he was arab. You are truely a moron if u believe that.Kurt Angle wears the stars and stripes and he is told that he sux 20 times every night.The fans didnt like Hassan..because he was a cocky jackass who insulted other faces.(the very definition of a heel.)the fans didnt hate hassan because he was an Arab-American,they hated him because his character was begging to be hated.Imagine if Hassan was in a fued with JBL.Lets say JBL pulls the same racist stuff on Hassan that he did with eddie, and before Hassan even makes a comment about his race. Hassan plays up that jbl looks down on him because of his race and uses these stereotypes to assume that he is better than Hassan in every way.This way he is putting the heat on jbl (an example of a person who is racist,rather than grouping all americans as racist).This would have gotten the fans behind this arab american wrestler who was standing up to a heel and as they would find out was a pretty cool guy.Wrestling fans would take this mentality from television into their every day lives.But what route did the WWE take"They chose to take the one arab american wrestler on the roster and make the fans hate him.Then they used the character as a tool to mock them.Assuming that all Americans are racists is no different from assuming that all arabs are terrorists.This is what the Hassan character was all about.To say that it was just another heel who had his friends attack a face,u know just as well as i do that the attack was a play on terrorism.His manager was "sacraficing"himself for a greater cause."The attackers were wearing all black with skimasks.When was the last time evolution came in with skimasks to help thriple H win a match while Ric Flair sacrificed himself for a greater cause"right.Even the good things that Hassan displayed as far as the whole idea of racism against his people was underminded with the poorly thought out terrorism skit.It sent the message that NOT ALL ARABS ARE TERRORIST...PLZ EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO DO A TERRORIST ACT.The WWE knew damn well what it was doing and that is shown by the fact that they DID consider not doing the attack in light of what had just happened across the atlantic.To the black guy that called everyone "gay" and "pussies", lets say that it was a southern white man who wears a "Godwin" like attire and claims that everyone calls him a racist when he wears a confederate flad shirt only to show pride of the south not racism....then 5 guys dressed in klan robes stage a lynching while he directs it.Would u feel the same or would u just be another "gay pussy" as u say"
Ssiam wrote:
I just want to say I was disappointed about Hassan becoming fired! I am an Arab me I get sad when ever I get into a fight with a kid I all ways hear the first thing Terrorist. I was waiting for him to win a belt so he could get to the people. I even found some kids in a park that like to wrestle so we played. I won the match and they stared calling me a Terrorist like Hassan! I said stop they then said forget it your a terrorist like Davari! Thank you for pionting out how JBL is like him.
Brock345 wrote:
Muhammad Hassan was a great wrestler. I think he could have became something more than just an Anti-American. London was hit with a major terrorist attack, but writers should have "chilled" or "clamed" him down and stopped the terrorist, even maybe keep him off the show awhile. But Great American Bash, even though I haven't seen it, should have been done to him like that. But, I guess we will never know what come have became of Muhammad Hussan.
Ahm wrote:
I didn't watch WWE when Muhammad Hassan was around but from what I've heard he was a great heel but was taken of SD because parents complained about his Arab American gimmick. But what bothers me is that the WWE does loads of bad things such as having the JBL character yell racist remarks in commentary and nobody complains about that. Also the way in which WWE exploits women by having them dress up in skimpy outfits and putting them in these stupid bra and panties week in week out. Nobody complains about that yet they complain about Muhammad Hassans character. This just proves how stupid and weak some people can be. And how certain American characteristics need to change.
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