Vinnie Mac? Oh, he's going to hell.

[thebitterguy]

From this week's entry at http://parents.wwe.com:

Parents Advisory: Hassan and Daivari on WWE SmackDown! Tonight

As many you may know, the characters Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari are U.S. citizens of Arab descent who have grown up in America. Hassan and Daivari have spoken out about the challenges and poor treatment they have faced being Arab-Americans in a post 9/11 America. They have taken these complaints, and the way they express them, to the extreme, insulting their country, their fellow Americans and the U.S. troops to the point where they have drawn the resentment of their fellow Superstars and WWE fans. Hassan now dresses in Arab garb as a way to express his dissatisfaction with America.

Hassan has grown increasingly frustrated in the WWE, believing that the powers that be are unfairly preventing him from getting a fair opportunity to challenge for a WWE title. He now uses his Arab heritage as an excuse for why he is not getting more opportunities to compete for a title. Hassan now believes that he deserves an opportunity to compete for the World Heavyweight Championship. Tonight, Hassan intensifies his quest to get that opportunity.

Parents may want to watch this segment tonight with their children.

In the real world, WWE believes that no matter what our race, religious creed or ethnic background in America, we all share the common bond of being Americans. We should all be open to the beliefs of individual Americans, recognizing that it is this diversity upon which America is based.

Oh, that's just SWELL. They recognize the diversity. Just fuckin' GREAT.

That's why they had this on the show this week:


Following the Undertaker win over Hassan, five masked men in black shirts and fatigues came out, beat down
Taker, choked him with a wire, and then Hassan executed the camel clutch on the unconscious Taker. At
that point, the five anonymous men (according to PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson, they were Val Venis,
Mike Shane, Todd Shane, Mike Knox and one more) knelt beside Taker, then carried the "sacrificed"/"martyred"
Davairi off, above their heads.

I wish I could take back some ratings points from the WWE.

Comments

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

I'll just say that I thought I recognised the Shane twins under the suits (no, really, these guys are kinda noticeable, and since they're locals, both in the wrestling scene and on local tv commercials for the past like decade, and since I heard they'd signed with WWE, I've been looking to see them show up somewhere), though I would've never guessed one was Val.

That being said, I'm wondering what's your point of contention?

[rfmcdpei.livejournal.com]

Oh dear God.

[thothmeister.livejournal.com]

This angle was in poor taste anyway (mind you, I thought the Angry Arab idea was to begin with), but it doesn't in any way reflect what happened in London. The show was taped 2 days before that horrible tragedy.

That said, having any masked terror cell in the ring because the wrestler was an Arab was just plain stupid, and the martyr spot as well.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I think the Hassan angle is being done quite well - they're making quite the point that he is not indicative of Arab-Americans or Arabs, that he's just a guy taking things too far (classic definition of a heel). He's actually fun to hate, which is unusual for me, b/c other than him and JBL and Rene Dupree, I pretty much like most of the heels and tend to root for them.

Yes, the masked terrors jumping 'taker was cheesy, but expected.

[thothmeister.livejournal.com]

Let's not forget this is the same company that aired a PPV free in Iraq during the Gulf War... only to have their die hard American Sgt. Slaughter be an Iraqui sympathizer.

Vince McMahon likes controvery, even when he gets a brain fart to come up with it. Tasteless to his mind is good.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Yes, but comparing Muhammad Hassan's storyline to the Sgt Slaughter one isn't remotely the same one.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong in the over-arching Hassan storyline - it's well done, the character is presented as an individual, and just a bad guy. He's no more 'wrong' a character than any of the Black Power characters we've seen over the years (Nation of Domination, Rodney Mack, Theodore Long, etc) but I don't hear anyone mentioning them...

[noizangel.livejournal.com]

I was pretty much horrified. Even without the London thing.

And I was just talking -before- that about how they were doing a good job with Malina. Anyway. It sucked and it was ridiculously stupid. I am so sure that the parental advisory makes the implications all better.

On the plus side, they may now abandon the angle - sadly, not 'cause it's right, but 'cause it would be too much bad press.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Good job w/ Malina? As opposed to...?

[noizangel.livejournal.com]

Usually, the women are the eye-candy and just stand there at ringside to look pretty. I find MNM an interesting reversal of that; Mercury and Nitro are interchangeable, and Melina calls the shots and does all the talking. Essentially, the boys are her bitches, which is an unusual power dynamic for the WWE.

I don't think it was an intentional thing, but it's nice when they even do that stuff by mistake.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Ah.

Well, actually, it's not as revolutionary as you think; it's actually the way it usually is when there's a female manager - just in recent years there hasn't been a plentitude of managers, much less female ones. Sunny was the same way with her tag teams (former WWE tag champs The Bodydonnas, fer instance.)

As for Nitro and Mercury being 'interchangeable', I have to take issue with that; MNM is the most underqualified tag champions in years - Mercury carries that tag team more than Christian ever carried Edge or Matt ever carried Jeff.

Don't get me wrong - I like Johnny "I won Tough Enough 3 to get this job" Nitro - but a megastar inside the ring he's not. He's passable, he's okay, but his strength was stuff like a year or two ago, when he was Eric Bischoff's butt-boy and comic relief on RAW.

Matthews (formerly of Joey Matthews and Christian York of ECW/indy fame) is a helluva talent and a future tag superstar once they find him a real partner.

[noizangel.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen a lot but the Diva search, etc in recent years, though I'kll admit I don't know much from between the time my brother had the WWF rubber figures and about two years ago.

'Interchangable' was more meaning their look - I have very little real idea of people's skill a lot of the time - the only thing I can pick up on is whether they're making an effort or not. Nitro -was- better and funnier with his Palm Pilot - I'd agree with that. :)

I don't know Matthews so well, but if that's true, they've done him a disservice by putting him in a team where he looks -exactly- like the other dude. ;)

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the Diva search thing is not bringing in good talent to the WWE. They're just bringing in pretty (and I have contests to that in some of the cases) faces and/or large breasts.

I yearn for the days when the women in wrestling could actually wrestle - Luna Vachon, Madusa/Alundra Blayze, Chyna, Molly Holly, etc. I'll give Trish her props, she came a *long* way...

Yeah, MNM really isn't doing Matthews/Mercury any favours - but if he does well (which he is) and keeps his mouth shut, it can only do his career good, as long as he doesn't get stuck in mediocrity.

[dawgstar.livejournal.com]

Though it's not nearly in the realms of such poor taste, we can chalk however up under 'stupid' their seeming need to hire new folks at the expense of letting other, proven guys go who haven't been given anything to do. I forget all the names, but the Dudley Boyz (all three) were the biggest crime.

Also, they're apparently going back to the USA network here, and have to pay heavily for it, and complain about a slow year.

[thothmeister.livejournal.com]

USA Network isn't even an option here in Canada. We only get RAW on TSN. I don't know what we'll do about Smackdown! which, the tasteless angle excluded, was better.

I have to look up the full list of people cut, but I remember that next to the big disappointment of all the Dudleyz getting cut there were some other disappointments (Charlie Haas, Billy Kidman), a few who didn't get the chance to develop (Matt Morgan, Mark Jindrak who was initially seen as talented), and a few none will lose sleep over (Kenzo Suzuki. What about him did WWE like?). Meanwhile useless scrubs like Chris Masters, Heidenreich and Snitsly are still emploed...

This is a thread more for a different topic, I think. :)

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I can't call the Dudleyz being cut a disappointment - we haven't seen them on an WWE show since November, except for the ECW related storyline.

Also, that frees them up to go to TNA, which I'm a fan of and watch (and actually live only an hour from where they tape it, so if I really tried, I could actually go see it), which I wouldn't mind one bit. In ring, it's a much better product than WWE.

[(Anonymous)]

The pathetic thing is: the fed had given the Dudley Boyz a vacation, in part to heal up lingering injuries. The ECW match was supposed to signal their return to action, and they get cut.

Mind you, they also cut Dawn Marie at the start of her third trimester... and this is the company that cut Andrew "Test" Martin while he was healing from an injury.

(Not that Test was great to watch; these are just the same scummy tactics Eric Bishoff did in WCW to Steve Austin and Bret Hart.)

TNA isn't an option for me. Unless they had TV on WGN, I wouldn't have a good way to see them.

[thothmeister.livejournal.com]

(That anonymous post was mine. Deepest Sender issues.)

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

TNA has a syndicated show, you should see if it's on any sports or indy network in your area? Barring that, you can watch it on their website, you have to download a viewer, I believe, but...

I read somewhere Dawn Marie bought out her contract b/c of her pregnancy.

And what I read about the Dudleys is that they couldn't come to terms on the new contract, so it's not like the Dudleys were biting to perform and Vince said, "Screw you, I got MNM."

[thothmeister.livejournal.com]

TNA was on FSN, but my Fox Net Sports affiliate didn't carry it.

The web based ones I tried to watch. I use Real Player Alternative, because Realplayer is always a headache itself with all the crud it loads in.

The quality of the video streams is crap though.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Another option for TNA is downloading their stuff. Not that I would ever advocate anything illegal like that.

/disclaimer

[luciancarter.livejournal.com]

Illegal? TNA last 3 Impact shows (taped to fuilfill overseas deals) are avaialble for free download on their website.

[dawgstar.livejournal.com]

I was trying to sum it up under, "Boy, Vince sure is dumb," but you're quite right. :)

[brand-of-amber.livejournal.com]

The last residuals of my interest in WWE just died. I think I'll go flush it down the toilet now, like a dead goldfish.

They don't regret it

[(Anonymous)]

The angle reran in its entirety on Velocity and The WWE Experience.