At first, the Mohammad Hasson gimmick wasnt that controversial; the character was a wrestler who happened to be Arab-American, wanting to be treated normally and not be subject to prejudice due to Americas War on Terror and rising Islamophobia in the world. Unfortunately, WWE managed to take something topical that was a legitimate reflection of social issues at the time and screw it up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw6naWylTrI During Hassans feud with the Undertaker, Hassan started praying after Takers match with Daivari in SmackDown (in a way that somewhat resembled how Muslims pray), and was attacked by a group of masked men with camouflage pants. They overpowered the Undertaker and even choked him out with piano wire. While that doesnt itself sound too bad, it aired in the United Kingdom three days before the London Bombings, which, tragically, killed 52 innocent people and injured an estimated 700 others. The SmackDown match was heavily criticized by mainstream media, and the Hassan character would continue making statements about his Arab ethnicity. Eventually, UPN convinced WWE to remove the Hassan character completely from WWE programming, which led to the character being killed off. Though his career was short and allegedly full of backstage difficulty, for many it was the right decision. Even though it was more of an issue of very bad timing, the masked attack segment during a time of violence and death so close to home, coupled with the general presentation of Arabs in WWE, made for a very uncomfortable situation.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
