Kawshen
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|  #1 Posted on 28.9.04 1302.40
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1303.15 | Originally posted by Rick Scaia at OO
Also of note from RAW house shows: a new character debuted, named Mohammed Hassan. He did the full-on Islam thing with the prayer rug and the denouncing America, and also had an unnamed, turban-wearing manager. He faced Maven and got DQ'ed when his manager interfered. On two of the three shows, Sgt. Slaughter ran out to make the jingoistic save.
Based on physical descriptions and on my understanding of the developmental depth chart, I'm guessing this is full-blooded American Mark Magnus doing the Hassan gimmick (he's just swarthy enough to pull it off), but I'd bet a body part that his manager is Iran-born Shawn Daivari. Why have an American playing the role of a middle easterner when you have a real one on the developmental roster (Daivari is actually a fully trained and very skilled wrestler)? Simple, cuz Daivari is a cruiserweight (and not a very big one at that), while Magnus is a big, beefy heavyweight. So that's why I'm betting the manager is Daivari, anyway... because he's just a little guy.
We'll see. As with Eugene and Simon Dean, expect WWE management to get a scouting report on how the gimmick went over (by all accounts, it generated exactly the cheap heat you'd expect) and start hyping Hassan on TV before too long.
If anyone can find any possible good in this gimmick, let me know. It's not fair to prejudge, yeah, but I hope they don't bring this to TV.
(edited by Kawshen on 28.9.04 1403) | Promote this thread! |             | BWT
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| #2 Posted on 28.9.04 1312.53
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1314.05 | | Its cheep heat and its something the WWE has tried countless times before in the past. As long as the WWE is around we will always see at least an anti American gimmick,a racial stereotype or a homosexual gimmick on TV. It upsets me that this is all that Vince and the rest of the WWE writers think we can comprehend. | JoshMann
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| #3 Posted on 28.9.04 1315.04
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1315.43 | Tasteful? Of course not.
Politically Correct? No way.
Holding up wrestling's time-honored tradition of the evil foriegn menace as dictated by the given political global climate of whatever time period it is?
Absolutely. | Mayhem
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| #4 Posted on 28.9.04 1318.35
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1319.26 |
No joke, with only reading the headline, I thought "well, they've gotta have Maven feud with someone" and then I open it up and read that he's been facing Maven ...
This is a gimmick that will go over about as well as a turd in a punchbowl. | SlipperyPete
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| #5 Posted on 28.9.04 1337.28
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1339.41 | | It is one thing if they portray a character as a terrorist who declares jihad. But a wrestler in a turban who uses a prayer rug and denounces Americans is just Tiger Ali Singh all over again. | Snookum
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| #6 Posted on 28.9.04 1357.30
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1359.03 | What's interesting is that they've been "testing" this character out for Magnus in OVW over the past few weeks. They'll have Cornette doing an interview or recording some type of promo for an upcoming show and Magnus will then storm out and interrupt, proclaiming his new name, etc., etc.
I can't recall WWE testing the waters for a character in OVW before. Is this a first for them?
The response I'm seeing from OVW fans to it? Well, people are happy to see Mark Magnus coming back. As to the character? The general response seems to be, "feh, whatever." | Matt Tracker
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| #7 Posted on 28.9.04 1410.50
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1418.55 | There's no need to make him Muslim. Make him another generic Middle Eastern bad guy like the ones from the '90s action films, if you must. Pick a country and go with it, like Iran Sheik or La Resistance. But don't rely on his religion as a gimmick.
Cripes, you wouldn't do a heel Jew, would you?
...
would they? | Jakegnosis
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|  #8 Posted on 28.9.04 1424.23
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1424.27 | I'm surprised they didn't get this going a couple of years ago.
They created La Resistance because it's apparently popular to hate the French these days. I think that's because of their position on Iraq and the "war on terror." Now, if WWE will exploit a silly bias like that, why wouldn't they exploit a much larger and inflammatory one? I've been waiting for this character since shortly after September 11, and I'm just surprised it took so damn long. | Bullitt
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| #9 Posted on 28.9.04 1426.07
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1426.58 | Originally posted by Mayhem
This is a gimmick that will go over about as well as a turd in a punchbowl.
Let's not forget we all said the same thing about Eugene...right before everyone started to love him. | JustinShapiro
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| #10 Posted on 28.9.04 1432.13
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1433.35 | "I can't recall WWE testing the waters for a character in OVW before. Is this a first for them?"
Pretty much, but only because the idea has been in the works for a while (since at least April or May) instead of the usual giving a guy a new gimmick after he's been called up, since obviously the best place to learn it is right away in front of patient WWE crowds. | TL_Hopper
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| #11 Posted on 28.9.04 1457.56
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1459.01 | | Isn't it against Muslim rules to be tatooed? If it is, boy, they've dropped the ball, haven't they. | geemoney
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| #12 Posted on 28.9.04 1511.54
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1511.56 | Didn't "Sheik" Shawn Daiviri already wrestle once in the Spring on Heat against Tommy Dreamer?
Then again, it IS Heat.... | JoshMann
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| #13 Posted on 28.9.04 1516.21
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1516.40 | Originally posted by TL_Hopper
Isn't it against Muslim rules to be tatooed? If it is, boy, they've dropped the ball, haven't they.
In all fairness he can't be buried in a Jewish cemetary either, so there goes the face turn, too :) | evilwaldo
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| #14 Posted on 28.9.04 1523.07
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1523.09 | | I wonder why they haven't developed a North Korean heel character yet? | samoflange
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| #15 Posted on 28.9.04 1542.03
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1543.17 | Originally posted by evilwaldo
I wonder why they haven't developed a North Korean heel character yet?
Well, they do have Gail Kim. Though it is not specified what Korea she is from, North Koreans ARE notorious for applying seemingly random strings of elaborate submission maneuvers to their opponents. | Y2J 420
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| #16 Posted on 28.9.04 1615.45
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1615.48 | I don't see anything wrong with the gimmick...
Al Queda is an Islamic terrorist group...if he portrays a Muslim denouncing America, then he's doing nothing different than Al Queda...perfectly acceptable...
And a Jew could easily be made a heel...just talk about Jews sending Jesus up the river...that'll get some major boos... | CANADIAN BULLDOG
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| #17 Posted on 28.9.04 1638.38
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1639.10 | | This is the company that actually aired a vignette touting the wrestling debut of "Hirohito". How can this development surprise ANYONE? | Eddie Famous
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| #18 Posted on 28.9.04 1718.02
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1720.08 | Originally posted by Matt Tracker
Cripes, you wouldn't do a heel Jew, would you?
...
would they?
Actually....Izzy Slapowitz was a quite successful heel wrestler/manager in the midwest indies....
| redsoxnation
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| #19 Posted on 28.9.04 1758.19
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1759.01 | | As Jakegnosis said, the only surprise with this gimmick is it took Vince 3 years to have the guts to do it. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the death of most Nazis has really hindered the ability to create cheap foreign heel heat for the past decade. And, this formula has generally worked for the past 50 years. Also, at least it's not Rikishi being re-re-packaged as the Sultan yet again. | BigSteve
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| #20 Posted on 28.9.04 1810.36
Reposted on: 28.9.11 1810.36 | | (deleted by CRZ on 28.9.04 1904) |
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