The guy aligned himself based on his ethnicity against the USA, what was SUPPOSED to happen?

People were supposed to say "Hey! He's right! Give us hell, Hassan!" and then cheer him.

I don't get your post at all. How does that make them a foreigner with a heel gimmick? Don't you actually have to be a foreigner for that? :roll:

You don't have to be a foreigner to have a foreigner heel gimmick.

He wasn't against the USA. He was against prejudice. He loved America. He grew up watching Sesame Street, and learning English as a primary language. Then this group of select people did something horrible, and his country accused him of inhuman qualities because of his ancestry.

He was outraged by racism, ignorance and stereotypes. Yeah, what a horrible guy!

No, but you have to either be playing a foreigner, or be playing someone who represents another country. Muhammad Hassan was originally from Syracuse, New York; later changed to Detroit, Michigan. Fans looked like idiots when they chanted "U-S-A!" in his presence. They totally missed what the character was saying.

The only thing that made Hassan a heel was the ignorance of the fans, him no longer trying to reason with people that cannot be reasoned with, and towards the end of his run, playing into the stereotypes that the fans had of him.

Yeah, Hassan eventually became a typical foreign heel - but that was probably more to do with the fans' reaction to him than anything else.

Would you not consider Angle winning the title just after 9/11 as "cashing in"? Cos I sure did! Then again, I'm not American so I couldn't possibly understand/sympathise/empathise.

Kurt Angle was already over insanely over at that point, so no.

The point of Muhammad Hassan went way beyond any kind of specific culture. It was originally just about the concept of good people's fears causing them to judge irrationally. That is why the character was too smart for the WWE's writers to handle, its commentators to really talk about, and it's audience to understand. He was a good man with some flaws of his own, which is a character with too many dimensions in the black and white WWE world.

1997 D-Generation X was another group of heels I couldn't stand. I freaking hated them. I found them to be highly obnoxious and annoying. I wanted to see them beaten to a bloody pulp. Even now, when I look back and watch my old tapes, I can still remember the intense, and fiery hatred I had for them.

Heck, The Hart Foundation was getting cheered in America when they feuded with D-X! Bret Hart was the top bad guy who bashed the American wrestling fans for months, and yet D-Generation X was so dang irritating that the WWE marks were siding with Bret! These weren't overwhelming cheers mind you, and I think at first the fans were confused who to cheer for, and they booed both stables at different times, but overall anytime the two groups cut promos one another, it was The Hart Foundation who got cheered the loudest.

I also think D-X's return a few years back was pretty bad. They had grown very stale. In my view, what made D-Generation X so over was that Triple H and HBK had the look. They were young, so they came across as typical, smart-ass, rebellion, teenage high school boys/twenty-something year old college kids. But when they came back, they were too old looking, and came across as a bunch of old hippies trying to relive their partying days.

Plus, when D-Generation X was first born, WWE hadn't become "attitude" quite just yet, so the things they said and did were very shocking for it's time. But when they came back, the fans were use to their antics, and expected them, whereas fans in 97' were literally stunned and offended.

I will say in their defense, 1997 D-X was probably one of the greatest wrestling stables ever, were highly entertaining, and fun to hate. I hated them so much because they were that damn good. They knew how to push people's buttons where it just left fans like me speechless, shaking our heads, and glaring.

I use to hate Stone Cold Steve Austin at a time too, but when he feuded with D-X, I instantly became a huge Austin fan for life because I hated HBK that much, and I knew if anyone could give D-Generation X the well deserved karma they had coming towards them, it was the Texas Rattlesnake. And that's exactly what he did. Oh hell yeah! :)

As soon as Shawn Michaels left WWE, D-X were never really the same ever again. Especially after they became babyfaces. It was the end of a very short lived, and memorable era when Michaels retired.

Seconded.
Seriously, people tired to FUCKING STAB HIM!!!

And replace "tried" with "made it a point to, and succeed"

Same with Harley Race.

I'd love to see Triple H and Shawn Michaels get back together as a modern day heel version of DX called "The Kliq." That could be epic heat. They'd need faces to feud with, though. John Cena and Batista would probably be the two that the WWE sent, but I see the fans siding with Triple H & HBK in that one.

The Brian Kendrick is a really cool heel, if you ask me. He's small, obnoxious, full of himself, and wrestles like a weasel, chalking it up to "brains." I can see your average redneck wrestling fan wanting to see him get his shit fucked up. He's also got a lot of natural talent that he can bust out, which makes him even more dislikable as your classic "underachiever." He's good, and he knows it, but he chooses to duck and cover, pick his spots, and dance around because no one is going to be able to catch him to knock him out.

He borders on cool heel, but the way he wrestles just prevents him from truly being likeable beyond smarter fans.

When The Brian Kendrick slapped Kane in the face on the draft show, I can imagine marks wanting to see Kane kill Spanky.

HBK

Mr. Perfect

I would have to go with Brock because I hate his ass. The best heels to me where HHH and Taker. If Cena ever went heel, he would be up there with Brock because I hate his character but he might be a cool guy though.

Edge too. I really started to hate him after watching the Matt Hardy DVD.

I Hate All the young new guys wwe brings in they think they are the shit. they can't do a promo without calling mom for advice

I always hated Jericho when he was the undisputed champion around like 2002 or something.
Then Trips came and took the title at wrestlemania 18

Vince McMahon

I hate it when I forget that I've posted stuff for this long.

The character Hassan was playing wasn't pleading for tolerance. The message of the character was "Some Americans have been prejudiced against people of Middle-Eastern descent since 9/11, therefore if you are an American you are obviously a prejudiced bastard." He was holding the entire group responsible for the behavior of individuals. So even by your reasoning, this should make him a heel, because he did exactly what he was angry at people for doing. What didn't work about the character was that it didn't inflame people against him, it made them uncomfortable about their own feelings on the matter. Which isn't a good thing in a situation like that, because it just made them angry at the guy who was, which led to heat.

Let's see... Hassan went around accusing Americans of being prejudiced against people like him. They chanted "USA" in response because chanting "we disagree with your stated viewpoint, as you are accusing all of us of being prejudiced based on the behavior of others, and we resent that" would be horribly inefficient and hard to understand.

Basically, if the character were meant to be something other than a heel they would have had him behave in an honorable fashion in the ring, he wouldn't have issued blanket condemnations against Americans, and he wouldn't have had an angry guy yelling in a foriegn language at his side (like it or not this is a classic heel move.)

Hassan played a heel, but I'm just saying that he was more than an anti-American heel. Also, to people in Canada, Australia, etc. he was 100% correct from our perspectives. When the WWE went to Canada early into his run, Hassan came out to a massive pop.

I don't really recall his promos, so you might even be right about what he said, but I cannot recall him saying what you said. I remember him saying that 9/11 was a crime on his country, but that people blamed his entire culture for it, and he's not going to tolerate it anymore. He got angry at JR and King for forwarding stupid American propaganda. Hassan was basically just left-wing, with a right-wing "hang them all" attitude.

His early promos were all about '... I am an ARAB... AMERICAN' like Alienoid was implying. And they still chanted 'USA! USA!'

I remember I hated Stone Cold Steve Austin in 1996/1997, and before he officialy became a babyface, I was distrubed by the fact that he had a such a strong fan base, and was offended anytime I saw people in the audience wearing Austin 3:16 t-shirts. When he became a face, I was use to it.

The Hart/Austin feud felt very real to me. It was so intense. It almost made me believe wrestling was real a few times, or it just felt so real, that I was able to forget it was all stagged. Looking back, in a way, it reminds me of any famous sports riviarly, especially as far as fans were concerned. I'd walk around town wearing a Bret Hart shirt, and I'd get glared at from other boys my age, and I'd return the hard look cause I honestly hated them and their hero as much as they hated me and my hero.

When I went to a WWF house show in the summer of 97', apart of me was hoping to have gotten into a fight with an Austin fan. I was 14, and full of anger like any other teen that age.

I also hated that Stone Cold turned the majority of fans against Bret Hart, and that he was making Bret's life miserable, and screwing him out of so many victories, and I couldn't understand why anyone would cheer Austin on. So by the time Bret turned heel, I was fed up as he the character was, with getting screwed over so many times, and the fans lack of support. I shared Bret's hate for Austin, and the American wrestling fans.

By 98', Austin grew on me, and most of the character he feuded with were just as evil as him, if not more evil, and there no more good guys after Bret left, and Owen Hart died, so I was okay with cheering Austin on.

-HHH because of all the squashing/burying.
-Regal because I never really liked him.