Arab-American Wrestler Taken Off Show

[Uncle Fester]

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 30 minutes ago



STAMFORD, Conn. - A company that organizes wrestling entertainment has agreed to remove an Arab-American character from a popular television show after receiving hundreds of complaints about an episode that aired the day of the deadly London bombings.

World Wrestling Entertainment said it would no longer feature Muhammad Hassan on its "SmackDown!" program, which draws more than 5 million viewers a week.

Hassan will be featured Sunday on a pay-per view event. Beyond that, his future is uncertain. The WWE's Web site said the character "has taken a leave of absence from SmackDown."



I suppose this walks hand-in-hand with taking seriously the overall concept of "professional wrestling." A little tasteless to be sure, but...


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=533&e=8&u=/ap/20050722/ap_on_en_tv/arab_american_character

[Republican_Legion]

I suppose this walks hand-in-hand with taking seriously the overall concept of "professional wrestling." A little tasteless to be sure, but...


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=533&e=8&u=/ap/20050722/ap_on_en_tv/arab_american_character


ROFL and the europeans said we overreacted with 911 .

[Incident_command]

His charcter sucked anyway. Same as The Iron Sheik and Nicolai Volkoff,only at a different time. At least the other two had talent.


http://www.funnsylvania.com/dienerdome/ironshekbio.jpg

[S-T]

http://www.freep.com/news/metro/wrestle26e_20050726.htm

I think it's silly. He was a pro wrestling heel. Pro wrestlers and their promotions don't even pretend it is real any more. They talk openly of storylines, angles, and "selling" an opponents' offense. I think Muslims have a lot more to worry about than a WWE character that is basically a younger photocopy of The Iron Sheik. (Who was himself a younger photocopy of The Sheik.)

[Incident_command]

True, at least the Iron Shiek was a real olympic wrestler.

[S-T]

I'm a lot more offended by things like the Katie Vick storyline than the Hassan character. But that stuff offends me because it is overwhelmingly lame and stupid.

Vince McMahon has put up a lot of such characters, feeding more and more material to www.WrestleCrap.com

[Beowulf]

WWE-a place for people who aren't quite good enough actors for real entertainment.

[S-T]

WWE-a place for people who aren't quite good enough actors for real entertainment. No, they're not Oscar winners, I'll give you that. But they have to do more than act. How many other actors could pull off a Shooting Star Press without killing themselves?

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

No, they're not Oscar winners, I'll give you that. But they have to do more than act. How many other actors could pull off a Shooting Star Press without killing themselves?

Point taken, S-T, but do you know how many actors I'd like to see try? http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_11.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZS)


This is extremely embarrassing, but I can't comment on the issue of wrestling, really . . . my Bubba was a HUGE fan (before it went tease, sleaze, and snooze) -- http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_19_1.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZS) so much so, that our son is actually NAMED after a (late) wrestler,
http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:3RHSgCkrt7kJ:www.highspots.com/www/stores_app/images/images_125/abc_bruiser_down_t.jpg (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.highspots.com/www/stores_app/images/images_125/abc_bruiser_down_t.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.highspots.com/www/stores_app/Browse_dept_items.asp%3FAffiliateID%3D368%26Page_i d%3D17%26categ_id%3D87%26parent_ids%3D51&h=100&w=100&sz=5&tbnid=3RHSgCkrt7kJ:&tbnh=77&tbnw=77&hl=en&start=40&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBruiser%2BBrody%26start%3D20%26svnum% 3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN)

[UnkHiram]

Deep Dark Secret Time: I used to watch wrestling all the time. I knew it was fake but I thought it was great entertainment. Of course this was back in the day of the Von Ericks, Wahoo McDaniel, The Four Horsemen and Rick Flair.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Deep Dark Secret Time: I used to watch wrestling all the time. I knew it was fake but I thought it was great entertainment. Of course this was back in the day of the Von Ericks, Wahoo McDaniel, The Four Horsemen and Rick Flair.

Unk, please don't tell me you WEREN'T a Dusty Rhodes fan! He was my fav, :smirky: .

I used to watch wrestling with my father, back when Gordon Solie was the MC. There was the American Dream (Dusty Rhodes), the Lumberjack (last name was LeDuc, but I can't remember the first name), the Grahams, Harley Race, Pack-song, Pak-Song, the Briscoe brothers, etc. http://www.freeconservatives.com/vb/images/icons/icon7.gif

[UnkHiram]

Homes

Nope not a Dusty Rhodes fan. Whenever he came to Dallas he was a "Bad Guy". Always wrestled against the Von Ericks. My Home Town Heroes.

[DeclinetoState]

Does this mean it's the end of the line for Abdullah the Butcher (http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/bios/halloffame/butcherbio.html)?

[S-T]

Dusty Rhodes, whatever his ability to draw as a wrestler, was a horrid booker.

Note to pro wrestling promotions: do not allow active wrestlers to write the storylines.

[Incident_command]

THE REAL HORSEMEN

http://www.highspots.com/www/stores_app/images/images_125/4-horsemen_photo.jpg

Ole Anderson, Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon, Arn Anderson, Ric "WOOO" Flair.

[EveningStar]

Dusty Rhodes, whatever his ability to draw as a wrestler, was a horrid booker.

Note to pro wrestling promotions: do not allow active wrestlers to write the storylines.

They do tend to push themselves, don't they.