Hassan's Henchmen (SD Spoilers)
 

So, Smackdown has just started, but I wanna make note of an interesting detail before I forget about it completely. I dunno if this was on all UPN channels, but UPN 9 (New York) ran a scroll along the bottom of the screen saying (roughly), "In light of today's tragic events, parental discretion is advised during parts of this program."

Now, I know as well as the rest of you guys who've already read the spoilers that they're referring to the Hassan/Daivari/"Masked Men" segment - which worries me. I know live accounts are saying it didn't necessarily portray them as terrorists per se, but this warning makes me wonder just how this segment will come across - and whether it'll be edited/chopped down a bit. (If they can even do that with such little notice.)

Yeah...dat's not cool.

yeah, they flashed it across the screen here on UPN Chicago

So it looks like they'll show it here, because I got that little warning across the bottom also

As if the angle wasn't in "bad taste" before. :roll: But it seems the WWE is censoring itself here, which is a good thing. (This is the first example of "good judgment" we've seen out of 'em since...Batista going to Smackdown, I guess.)

As if the angle wasn't in "bad taste" before. :roll: But it seems the WWE is censoring itself here, which is a good thing. (This is the first example of "good judgment" we've seen out of 'em since...Batista going to Smackdown, I guess. Totally different kinda judgment, there, though...)

I don't think it was in bad taste. Wrestling, in my opinion, is going to have to be more edgy if it hopes to be as popular as it was years ago. While for now Hassan's henchmen might be a little extreme, I feel it's stuff like this that could get people interested.

Another reason why SD! should go live should it move away from UPN.

Saw that disclaimer as well, on the second hour...

Oops. Didn't realise there was a thread on it...

Never showed that disclaimer here in Canada on The Score network.

That was fucking cool.

That disclaimer was fucking stupid.

Like it would be better if it was yesterday or tomorrow it aired.

I don't see what was so wrong with that. Most of them looked white anyways :p

This whole thing is coming off a lot more...harmless than I expected. The way the whole thing was staged, it felt like your average post-match gang-up, just colored in a way that fit Hassan's character (he's always been rather militaristic in personality, which excuses the camo pants). My fears have been thoroughly assuaged.

(The pre-match pep talk, though, was a bit overdone.)

I'll tell ya what, trying to pull this early in Hassan's WWE life woulda been a disaster. Now, though, it's pretty well established that he's a just a natural villain to the core, regardless of race, etc.

It was funny to watch the crowd not know how to react

Maybe those guys who bombed the subways were white.

When I saw the guys in masks come out, I was like "HOLY FUCK!"

Then I saw what they did and I was like "Holy fuck, that merits a disclaimer?"

The one thing that was funny was Hassan doing his impression of the theme music with arms spread before putting on the Camel Clutch...

I dunno IMO there taking this whole thing a bit too far. Although I doubt it would have been booked if the bombing in London would have happened before the tapings. Alot of you think it's harmless but I beg to differ. Some say it shouldn't be taking seriously but I guarantee alot of non-wrestling fans were quite offended by the whole thing. Especially how they keep commenting that Daivari (sp?) was a "sacrifice" (almost like a suicide jobber). Then the way those guys in masks carried him away from the ring. Not to mention how those guys were dressed. I dunno, man, I just think the whole thing is in poor taste. Maybe not to wrestling fans but certainly to those affected by the terrorist's actions. But to Vince McMahon any publicity (positive or negative) is good publicity. He didn't have any problems making Sgt. Slaughter an Iraqi sympathizer and having him burn the American flag while the Gulf War was going on. He didn't even seem to mind that at Wrestlemania 7 they had to have extra security because so many people were afraid that someone might try to take a shot a Sgt. Slaughter.

You know how sensitive people are anymore. The second they get a chance, some conservative talk-radio nut (besides JBL), the FCC, President Bush, or whoever it would be would try to fuck them over however they could the second they had the chance, and why? Because they CAN!!

But I don't see how it really offends people. It's not like it's making fun of those who've died from terrorist attacks, it's just taking what happens in real life and carries it over into the wrestling world.

Unless they heard about it ahead of time, or if a fan tells them, how would a non-fan know about it? I always pictured non-fans NOT watching wrestling. Maybe that's just me.

Was it offensive? Of course it was. But so was that angle in the early 90's, yet the Sarge is still a fan favorite.

Unless we warped back to the Iran Contra era...

It's also clearly depicting those using such tactics as the "bad guys." I think that was my biggest concern - that this would be executed in either a silly way that makes light of the situation, or that Hassan would (somehow, someway) come off as a sympathetic character. Neither was the case - it was realistic enough, but also simple enough that you know that a) Hassan's the bad guy, and he's doing a bad thing; b) he will get his comeuppance, like every bad guy in wrestling does, and probably from the one he "terrorized" with these attacks.

:y:

Yeah, terrorists aren't syjmpathetic characters. If they were, they'd be "freedom fighters."

Yeah but that was before 9/11. THere's still millions of people who haven't gotten over 9/11 and the news said the group who was responsible for the attacks this morning is the same group responsible for the bombing in Madrid as well as 9/11. Whether you or anybody else thinks so or not Muhammad Hassan was created because of the terrorists that caused 9/11 and other disasters. How hard would it be to get a guy over as heel who pretty much portrays the "evil doers" who caused 9/11. That's some serious heel heat. But 9/11 is something that should be handled more seriously than that considering one of the biggest tragedies in American history. That's what makes it so bad, because Hassan is pretty much the wrestling equivalent of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Do you think Nick Berg would find the Hassan character harmless?

Also, Sgt. Slaughter was a fan favorite for years before that storyline in the early 90s. Even the general public (those who don't watch wrestling regularly) have heard of Sgt. Slaughter and therefore they were more aware that it was a storyline. Nobody, other than OVW fans, knew who the Hell Mark Magnus was before Vince brought him up to the big leagues and give him this controversial gimmick. The Sgt. Slaughter storyline was pretty edgy yes but I don't think it's anywhere near being as edgy as this storyline.

And Osama wore a ski mask and choked out the Undertaker too?

BAH GAWD THE FIEND!

(I'm not making light of 911 or London...But this is asinine...Believe it or not, there were bad terrorist things going on before 11 Sept, you shallow fuck).

True, but the context here is entertainment and, particularly, pro-wrestling, which has always thrived on carnivalesque, larger-than-life stereotypes. Characters can be complex, but the plot of any pro-wrestling feud has to be good guy vs. bad guy; shades of gray can make a feud interesting, but ultimately, the crowd wants to know who to cheer for.

Look at, say, William Regal. At its simplest, his gimmick is that he's British. If he's a heel, he's a stodgy and arrogant cur; if he's a good guy, he's still got the same gimmick, but it's sold to the audience differently - his aloofness and dry wit are depicted as good things, because he's a good guy. (Who was it, again, that defined morality by the person performing the action, rather than the action itself? The ancient Greeks, perhaps?)

Getting back to the subject, Hassan is already a bad guy, so anything he's gonna do is gonna be bad. If we were supposed to see the other side, he'd be booked as a face, and would, perhaps, be dubbed a "freedom fighter." In order to have the good-vs-evil storyline that drives virtually evey wrestling feud (and just about any non-love-story out there), both we and the WWE have to acknowledge that it's just a simple form of entertainment (which it seems they did, by not attempting to blur the line for the sake of realism).

The news also said (believe it or not) that I was wanted for 6 counts of murder.

Michael cole said LOL terrorism

But seriously I was shocked at what happened. Next week Hassan should say "I do not support what happened in london but..."

BUT NOT IN AMERICA, YA PINKO COMMIE!

...I'll go now.

I thought he yelled something about Allah.

Ah, well I didn't hear that, I guess.

He obviously shouldn't have said it and should've continued to sell how "horrible" what was happening was. But other than a stupid remark by a commentator, it really wasn't that bad.

WWE set out to get a reaction, and they did. This will either hurt their reputation in the media or help Hassan's character

No shit. There was alot terrorist activity across the World before 9/11 but none anywhere near as severe as 9/11. 9/11 had a huge impact on alot of people's lives all across the World not just those affected. It will take years to heal the wounds caused by the actions of those terrorist. Some people were traumatized for life and will never get over it. The fact is, to Vince it's just another way to cash in on a real life tragedy. Does the WWE have to bring in a tag team called the Twin Towers and have Hassan squash them both and use some kind of finisher with the word "bomb" or "airplane" on them before anybody finds this shit offensive? I'm not saying it's depicting real life events exactly. All I'm saying is the WWE is taking Hassan's character and actions a bit too far. But that's my opinion and I'm quite sure I'm not the only person who sees it that way. So do you call those American soldiers who might be offended by this storyline "shallow fucks"?


By the way, Why is that 75% of these forums have to resort to insulting people just because they don't see things eye to eye? Can't you debate a point in mature fashion without resorting to childish name calling? Grow up, dude.

Aren't you still?

No, no they can't.

This is the internet dude. The place where people will give their opinion and don't give a shit about yours. Don't let that stop you though, someone might care. I don't, though

Actually, I was just pointing out the concept of how horrible it would be that people sympathise with terrorism...Especially in the US, where we just celebrated a country being formed out of many acts, several terrorist.

Wow. There's a pretty big difference between Hassan toppling the "Twin Towers" and a bunch of guys jumping the Undertaker. If you have to reach that desperately, then your argument is not worthy of the respect you seem to think you deserve.

Incidentally, "Might be offended?"

What about the soldiers who MIGHT be offended by Cena's Bad Bad man video. BAH GAWD THOSE WOUNDS TOOK YEARS TO HEAL AND SOME PEOPLE NEVER RECOVERED AND IT'S SO INSENSITIVE TO PEOPLE IN THE ARMY WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN OFFENDED!

I will not deal with your imaginary people who may be offended. Because that argument works for every instance of anything anywhere. If you worry about what might offend, you can never show anything ever again. And until I see the post where you chastised Vince for the Cena video, I'll call you a hypocrite and ignore your tearjerking theatrics.

You want respect, try being less like Fox news, and be more like real journalism.

FUCK YOU!

:shifty:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

a fucking men

I can see your point about what may or may not offend the soldiers. Regardless of what the situation is, some might find one thing offensive while others don't. That makes sense. But what I don't get is how you pointed out twice that I'm asking for respect. I could care less if I'm respected or not. I was just making a point which was that many people may find that the WWE is portaying the Hassan gimmick and the storyline he's involved in in a very tasteless manner. That's it. That's all I was saying. We're all talking aboot wrestling and you're being critical of my argument because it's not "like real journalism"? Ha, I never claimed to be a damn jourrnalist and I never asked for anybody's respect. Especially not yours.

Hmm... that still came off pretty controversially. Anyway, LA got the warning three times. But having them bow down and the cry of Allah and the whole talk of "sacrifice" can very easily offend.

Now, in terms of it it hurts Hassan's character, I relinquish those worries. It came off pretty well... he's pretty damn evil. The way it came off, he did "what had to be done."


However, did anyone else notice how ridiculously plastic that "metal pipe" was? That was pretty sad. :lol:

Also, while Taker was getting choked, I was thinking "HE'S ALREADY DEAD!!! IT WON'T DO ANYTHING!!!!" :shifty:

the spookiest part about all this is that...with all your posts on here...

your post count says 911..as in 9/11...

BAHGAWD IM OFFENDED!!!

fuck you posted again and now its 912.

Damn I didn't notice that until you mentioned it. That is pretty wicked.

I think Davari may be released now.

Bye bye Davari..(Cries) I like him more then Hassan. (sighs) He's the better wrestler.

... there was a segment with Hassan and a masked man, I didn't see that :|

haha...that's exactly what i said to my mom when it was happening. :lol: :y:

That's the thing about Taker, i can't get over thinking how much they've fucked up his character, it's just funny to watch him now while thinking that he's supposed to be dead.

He's not supposed to be dead anymore. Now Tazz and Michael Cole claim that it's a 'state of mind' and that he's not actually dead.

I think PMF just covered that.

It might be offensive. So might many angles in wrestling. Tasteless? A lot of wrestling is tasteless. This isn't the first or last tasteless gimmick, and the fact that you show sympathy to soldiers who might be offended over this but not soldiers who might have been offended by the turncoat Slaughter is hopocritical and asinine.

Offensive is offensive, kiddies. "But that's different" doesn't cut it here. La Res DIRECTLY DEMEANED the American military, where were you, O selective one? There are several gimmicks that demean ENTIRE RACES, and you're not defending them.

By the way, for the slow in the audience, it's a comparison. Be more like this, less like this. Only an idiot would think I felt posting on a message board counted as journalism. Though you're only one step below Hannitty...

Yeah, I was thinking about that.

How stupid did it look for this undead badass to be blacking out?

It'd be worse if the London bombings were suicide bombings.

Divari's "Sacrifice" wasn't exactly something that compares to the usual " sacrifices" for Islamic fanatics. No more than those "My Sacrifice" videos, and far less than the Undertaker's previous "sacrifice."

They actually said that? I never heard them say anything like that.But that's funny if it's true.

He's supposed to be unbeatable by the Smackdown roster, and therein lies the problem. HE's been booked so strong (And since Mark has a hand in the booking, you can bet this is part of it...) that there's no logical way to take him down. So they have to rely on the illogical, or nothing at all. He's a badass that can take on large amounts of punishment, gets back up from even the most severe punishment--But Randy KOs him. He's come back from being buried and has supernatural powers, but chloroform knocks him out and he can be choked out by terrorists.

So the lightning is part of his Telepsychic abilities? State of mind?

Kane could use lightning, and he was never dead. Same thing with his fire abilities.

I've heard it a few times.

Back when he was a supernatural monster.

He does it every night

Pffft... you of all people should know: If an Arab does it, it's terrorism. If a Christian does it, it's justice. DUUUUHHHHHH


:'( I hope not. I think he could be a great Cruiserweight.

But if he was... you think they'd sell it as Taker actually killed him? And if that's the case, they should have buried him alive. He'd be the first person ever buried alive to actually "die"!!!!


Speaking of wrestlers released... isn't is sad that Matt Morgan got released before the final showing of him on TV actually occurred? It's like... WWE.COM reports Matt Morgan is gone! Oh wait, two days later, it's on TV!

You think they would have waited. Or maybe I'm the only one who finds it humorous.

Yeah. If they're our guys, they're freedom fighters. If they're their guys, it's terrorism.

Like I said previously in on e of these threads, it's amazing the US viewers reaction to terrorists when this nation was founded by terrorist acts. When the US created Osama and Saddam.

On the whole offense thing...

My ncestors were lynched by guys who look like Undertaker, with his redneck gimmick. I am offended, and how dare you all be insensitive to the still-wounded NAtive American population...

Wouldn't it be something if Hassan comes out next week and cuts a promo saying that through the entire week, everyone thought that his masked bandits were Arab terrorists. Then he calls the guys up to the ring and shows everyone that they were just ordinary American caucasians and reiterates to the crowd that they're all racist. It'd boost his heat and reinforce his character.

:y: :y:

That would save his original gimmick. That would be an excellent follow up.

On the headlines page:

Mike and Todd Shane, Val Venis, Mike Knox (OVW wrestler) and one other unidentified wrestler were the guys who attacked Undertaker as a part of Hassan's 'group'.

:y: :y: Good plan

*stereotypial white boy voice*

My name is Arthur Miller. And I am not an Arab.

Arab <> Terrorist....

Did anyone else notice that Tazz kept referring to Hassan as Hussan?

I noticed that. Did you notice in Big Show's promo on his last appearance on Smackdown when he was talking about Hassan he refered to him as "Muhammad Hussein"?

No, I didn't. Did it sound intentional, like sarcastically?

Also, Did you notice on RAW 2 weeks ago when JR and King kept refering to Carlito as "Caribbean Cool Carlito"?

Nah you could tell it wasn't intentional. Big Show just got mixed up.

:wtf::|

Smackdown didn't air this Thursday in Seattle because it was pre-empted by a Mariners game. They're airing it Saturday. It will be interesting to see if UPN decides to cut out the segment. Hopefully it stays: I for one would like to see what all the fuss is about.

Its not that big of a thing, just a bunch of guys in masks..(Done before I can point out 2 or 3 instences) Came out and beat on the undertaker. (Those instences werent all on the Undertaker) And I bet will never see the mask men again (Cause were supposed to forget they ever exsisted. (Cause, I still remember)

Well, it wasn't JUST masks. These guys were Hollywood terrorists.

Oh, right sorry KK, I got that wrong...lol

Hey, its not just the 9/11 victims they offended...what about the Muslims who aren't terrorists who wre seen in a negative light? And what about the Mexicans they offended with the Mexi-cools? And what about the Smurfs they offended by having the bWo on the show? What about those people?

It's fucking wrestling. The WWE has done tasteless entertainment for the better part of 30 years. If you're sensitive, stop watching.

THANK YOU!

I agree, it wasn't the best timing. it was a little extreme, but weren't the people that are offended by this the same people who were bitching about wrestling being too soft. ie no piledrivers, vertabreakers, screwdrivers ect. not enough HARDCORE wrestling. hassan will get his by ut. it is just wrestling though. If you don't like it, don't watch it.

Won't someone please think of the children? Ban the bWo! It's offensive to smurf Americans!

Okay, there's a difference between soft wrestling and soft storylines.

The answer to the lack of piledrivers isn't bloodshed (For example) on TV.

However, if the WWE want to succeed, they have to push the edge. The downside to this is that they're going to step over sometimes.

I don't know if this was over the edge or not, but it's NOT as bad as people have made it out to be. It's not even that "edgy."

Didn't we all do this dance when Eugene debuted and some idiot on here claimed to have a retarded brother?

Ahhhh...How I miss sledge.

We'll do this dance MANY times.

You sir, are an ass.

If you've read the spoilers, then there's no way then you could actually approve of them showing that scene.

You tell that to my friend who's in hospital down in London who requires surgery on the huge hole in her left calf.

you fucking ass!

cause that was a terrorist act on Smackdown?

I didn't know men in black ski masks were terrorists.

They put that warning on the TV for the people who immediately associate that act as a terrorist act just because those guys had black ski masks on and for the whole Hassan is Arab so he must be a terrorist thing.

1) So cliched 80s terrorists blew a hole in your friend's calf?

2) I spent hours trying to track down two friends in London. I've got friends and family serving in Iraq where al Qaeda's currently beheading people, and I lost of a friend when al Qaeda dropped a building on him and @ 3,000 other people.

3) That being said, I don't think that this segment was as bad as it was made out to be. Or as horrible as you make it out to be.

Call me an ass if you want. I've been called worse.

personally I thought it was the most disgusting thing they'd ever done.

Considering what had happened the day it was broadcast, they should have edited the show, removed Hassan and 'Taker's parts, and either had the show run half an hour short or put in some Velocity matches.

It was a stupid segment at the best of times. Considering what happened on the day it was aired, it was a huge mistake to broadcast it.

I'd like it if next week, Hassan came out, broke character, and said something about it.

Did they even HAVE Velocity matches this week? They haven't for the last couple...

No. But for the good of the company and to avoid offending the sensitive, the WWE should've pulled Trips out of a closet and let him cut a 30 minute promo.

I haven't see any of this, but did Val Venis have a towel around his waist?

LMFAO.

Haven't they suffered enough?

They probably could have truncated this. IT would have been more like 15 minutes of time eaten. IT would have made more sense.

But they didn't, and UPN decided to run with it too.

"you know ladies, the world of international terrorism and the big valbowski, have a lot in common"

Nevermind. :rofl:

It's a storyline.

It's wreslting.

It's fake.

Goodness, they've aired much worse than this. Sure the timing may have been bad but what is done is done.