What was Hassan doing that was so much worse than what Iron Sheik and Slaughter did..
 

in the early 90's. I mean Slaughter was portraying a Hussein sympathizer and the Hassan gimmick never reached those limits. So what's the big difference from than and now besides 9/11.

Give that man a cigar!

besides 9/11?

Nothing.

America has become a pussy-whipped version of itself, Funny I never knew Demolition Man could be a reality, but America is heading there.

The difference is that we're pandering to PC pussies.

There's nothing more for me to say, but...

the Sheik/Slaughter/Adnan stuff was WORSE than anything Hassan ever did. They were directly making light of a war during a war.

Hassan says or does nothing related to the war, terrorism, except if you count the rising anti-Arab/Muslim sentiment in the US as part of that. I've heard anti-Hassan arguments saying that because of the war, a character like Hassan is in bad taste. It seemed like that on paper, until you take a second and listen to what Hassan is saying. Hassan does not talk about Muslims, he does not talk about the war, he does not talk about anything except his own personal persecution.

Yeah, the only real thing that Hassan has done involving "terrorism" isn't even terrorist-based--He has decried the treatment of his fellow Americans (Our fellow Americans as well...) because of terrorist actions. That's only related if you play the seven stages of separation game.

What he did with the masked men did BLUR the line, but never crossed it. IT was close, but close isn't enough in this case.

the media said it was making light of terrorists...etc it wasn't the act, the show or his negative remarks towards americans. It was about timing. the timing sucked ass. Granted they shot the scene two days before london but wwe and upn cleared it. I agree he never crossed the line but the media reads things and reports without even watching the product. then, the liberals need somethig to cry about

To tell the truth guys, it's the climate the two characters were/are in. I bet if 9/11 didn't happen, Hassan could do whatever the hell he wanted in regards to this character. But hey...this is now not then. So it all sucks.

George Carlin said it best:

"It's the pussification of America."

Hassan got really unlucky. That's it.

Everything was going fine with the PC pussies and Muhammad Hassan/WWE up until the angle with Undertaker that just happened to be aired on the same day as the terrorist attacks in London. How was the WWE to know that their angle, taped on Tuesday, would mirror those real-life events on Thursday? Of course, everyone in the UPN offices and the media manage to ignore this fact, and call the angle a storyline in "abominable taste."

The media said that.

I could claim that Schindler's list was about your laten homosexuality, but that doesn't make it any more true.

Vince McMahon decided that he needed ratings badly enough to orchestrate the London bombings just so more people would watch the WWE. :roll:

WWE took the easy route out with hassan (in terms of making him a heel)


I reckon it would have been awesome had they been able to make him a face!

The difference is that the Slaughter Iron Shiek crap ended at wrestlemainia.

That would've been easy. He could've talked about the stereotype of Arab Americans, sworn it wasn't true, and then gone out and fought with honor. He could've worked a program with someone like Kurt Angle, who's good at drawing heel heat even while preaching about how great America is.

Hell, Hassan could've BEEN the victim of prejudice and just shrugged it off, and that would've gotten him a lot of credit face-wise. Look at the Arab Americans who have been noted as complaining about the Hassan character. I'm sure they'd all eat up a babyface Arab American character.

yeah timing was awful.

Everybody's pointed it out already. It's a sad time for this country (USA) when WWE wrestlers get censored. It's all about money if you really think about it. Hollywood could put the Muhammad Hassan character in a movie. Why? Because movies are good for the economy. They make money for lots of people. WWE is only good for WWE. They make money for WWE and a few other people.

I'm going to stop right there before I go into a rant.

It's because Iraq and Iran never inflicted death of US home soil...probably.

Food vendors, arenas, and also the government make money from pro wrestling. That's just off the top of my head.

I wouldn't go that far. Notice that even in the Tom Clancy movie "The Sum of All Fears", they changed all the Arab characters into neo-Nazis out of the concern over stereotyping the Arabs as terrorists. Eventhough neo-Nazi terrorists are marginally more unrealistic.

Oh, come on, Iraq was behind 9-11...

:shifty:

Hey, it was a reason for going to war over there...

the only thing Hassan was doing that was so wrong was portraying the truth.

Slaughter and Shiek were doing a storyline. Hassan's was true.

My best guess, besides 9/11 and the "pussification" of America, is that Hassan insulted the audience for hating him. Sheik and Slaughter knew why they were hated and didn't care.

Exactly. Rep for that.

To think, being a heel is bad. Insulting the audience is what made him a heel. Whereas the Slaughter bit directly mocked a war (Apparently okay), insulting people for their prejudice and the boos he got for saying "Praise Allah" is a big nono.

Lesson learned: Shawn Michaels should have joined up with Hassan, and they could have called themselves the WMDs. They would pledge allegiance to Bin LAden, and it would be okay. As long as you don't complain about racism and have white guys in ski masks choke someone.

(And no, I'm not shooting the messenger, just the rationale which you have stated is a "guess" anyway...)

Well, it was just a guess. ;)

But, more importantly, I believe it was that Hassan brought up a lot of issues that most Americans would rather soon forget: their own insecurities and prejudices, for one. Hassan pointed out the marks' flaws, and that angered them. They ignored the fact that Hassan was American himself and chanted USA! at him all the time, apparently touting their own ideals, and refusing to listen to Hassan's words. Hassan would proclaim what was wrong with America and the fans would chant USA! right back at him.

Besides that nonsense, what else did the fans refuse to listen to? They only saw him as a heel, and they knew they hated him intensely for one reason or another.

Besides all that jazz, it was simply 9/11 and our new ideals of safety & anti-terrorism OVER freedom & tolerance & our unalienable rights that makes it all different from Slaughter and Sheik.

^^^^ Fell for the okey-doke

Slaughter/Iron Sheik crap was in a totally different league. Hassan comes from a different angle... Slaughter's character was all about "treason".

Yeah...remember that horrible Rikishi "I did it, for The Rock" angle? That is almost what Hassan is doing here. It's amazing how many times I've talked this Hassan thing over with people, and yet they seem to still associate him with terrorism even though the character has never done anything (except that lame ski-mask thing choking out the Undertaker) to endorse or perpetuate that.

I know it was a guess. Anyway, the other major difference is correct, but is still asinine.

But...But...He's a sand nigger!