WWE's Social Commentary on Arab-Americans

Published on January 4, 2005 By pseudosoldier In Movies & TV & Books

From WWE's official site, and the archive of last week's RAW (27DEC04) Link:

"Earlier in the night, Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari interrupted Stacy Keibler when she was revealing her New Year’s resolution, and berated the crowd, telling them that they are all prejudiced towards Arab Americans. They then took their tirade to the announce booth and started pushing around good ol’ J.R. and the King. They later complained to Eric Bischoff, requesting a match against the two, but Bischoff instead told them they could have a debate next week on Raw."

That's an odd assessment of how things went, but it's not like the WWE is continuity heavy enough to sweat the details. Anyway, here's my take of events:

"MH and KD interrupted SK... and berated the crowd, telling them that they are all prejudiced towards Arab Americans." Not entirely accurate, actually. Sure, they interrupted her. She was gushing about having been elected "Babe of the Year" Link and blathering on about how she was going to make 2005 even better than 2004... blah.
Of course they interrupted her; they're cast as Heels (read: bad guys) by the WWE! That's what Heels do, interrupting pretty girls and lovable goofballs alike. Helps draw heat from the crowd.
But the type of heat these two drew was a little incongruous. While Hassan was ranting about how Arab-Americans are being treated around the country, while giving statistics and even a web-site reference (!) for a Cambridge study (!) that seemed to show that many Americans were in favor of curbing the civil liberties of Arab-Americans, the fans just sort of died. And then, to make it worse, they began chanting.

Excerpt from an eyewitness report of the show (live) Link:
"The Hassan segment went over here like a lead balloon. The crowd was screaming through this whole segment and a guy threw a cup in the ring and got kicked out. I told my friend, I can't boo or cheer this guy. This could be an intriguing character if they do him right. So far I'm on the fence. Crowd cheered J.R. and King at the commercial. I also told my friend, "Why's everyone chanting USA? He's from USA! Is that supposed to make him mad?""

That's right. The bonehead fans chanted, "USA! USA!" at an Arab-American. I suppose this could be an attempt to tell Hassan that, no matter what he is personally experiencing as an Arab-American, the United States is still a great country. Then again, I could also imagine the fans in Biloxi adding, "That's right, raghead, go back to where you came from." I'm not even sure where that is. Philly, maybe? NYC? (Looks like Syracuse, actually. I wasn't too far off...)

A (poorly spelled) brief bio for "Hassan": Link
and for Daivari: Link

That explains why I couldn't make out his (Daivari's) Arabic, at least; he's Persian. (Holy shit, his fucking finisher is priceless: the magic carpet ride, a "splash off the top rope while holding a carpet uderneath himself" [/Wikipedia].)

Anyway, they could do a lot with this... but it's the WWE. I don't expect much.

Comments

cactoblasta

on Jan 04, 2005

I'm surprised they've got Arabs and Persians in it at all. Isn't faked wrestling supposed to be the last bastion of white European sport?

Jamie Burnside

on Jan 05, 2005

I am really impressed with Muhammed Hussan. Even if he is portrayed as a heel, he delivers a valid message to a group of people that probably will benefit from hearing it.

It is a little amazing to me how much heat he generates, considering that at least 92% of what he says is basically true.

Hassan has lots going for him:

A good look and a handsome face

A cool theme song

A good weasel manager

A strong angle to elicit the fans' reaction.

I am a little worried however about the first 'face that Hassan has to run a program with. It makes a babyface look foolish to deny the truthful things that Hassan says. (I don't even think that he's being overbearing with his comments on-air, do you?)

Who do you think that he'll feud with after Lawler? My guess would be Chris Jericho, (but if the PPV shows that he can't wrestle, I will guess Hurricane.)

Estrogen Lass

on Jan 06, 2005

Hey Pseudo- totally off topic here....I just wanted to say hi. Thats all. Take it easy

pseudosoldier

on Jan 06, 2005

No problem, EL. I'm sorry that I didn't make time while you were here with grey, but I also figured you two needed that time for each other.

Back on topic: I'm not certain how valid his message is. Like any good angle, it has the ring of truth, at least if you don't look to closely. I'm also not certain how much fans of WWE will benefit from his "message", especially with management's proclivity to take everything to the extreme like they do.
Case in point: to completely heel turn Hassan, they had him choke (with a belt) Jim Ross this past Monday, in the face of rather mild provocation. They also had Hassan state that he despises most other Arab-Americans, because they will just lay down in the face of the racism that they are presented with, because they are weak.
I was actually relieved to see that WWE caved this quickly and fell in step with what I normally expect of them. They had Hassan completely overstate his case to the point of ridiculousness, which is much safer. Unreal caricatures are easier (and safer) to hate than real people.

thatoneguyinslc

on Jan 06, 2005

Wrasslin'? Politics?? WTF???

You can't be serious!

pseudosoldier

on Jan 06, 2005

Wrasslin'? Politics?? WTF??? You can't be serious!

Come now. Surely you've heard of WWE sponsoring the "Smackdown! Your Vote" voter registration drive?

thatoneguyinslc

on Jan 06, 2005

Uhm....No i haven't Pseudo...I don't watch the wrassles.

I had the displeasure of meeting Vince McMahon in person down in Las Vegas back in 1991...He's a total slimeball.

Estrogen Lass

on Jan 07, 2005

Well, I will be back in town eventually to see my mom. Even if Grey isnt there. So, if you dont mind, I will let you know when and maybe I can come and see you. Tell the remaining part of the original PLT that I said hi and that I am always thinking about them.

pseudosoldier

on Jan 18, 2005

Who do you think that he'll feud with after Lawler? My guess would be Chris Jericho, (but if the PPV shows that he can't wrestle, I will guess Hurricane.)

If I hadn't already given you an Insightful, you'd get it for calling Helms as his next opponent.

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