10 Times WWE Used Major News Events In Questionable Taste
7. The Gulf War
Hulk Hogan needed an opponent in 1990, and the WWE had just the thing. Sgt. Slaughter had just asked to return to the promotion and Vince McMahon told Slaughter he needed a heel. But not just any heel - an odious monster that Hogan could vanquish as a heroic all-American conqueror. Handily, the Gulf War was starting up and the American people had a new country to hate called Iraq.
Slaughter became an Iraqi sympathiser, wearing an Arab headdress and associating with 'Iraqi' wrestlers General Adnan and Colonel Mustafa. Mustafa was played by the Iron Sheik, who is Iranian-American, and Iran is (whisper it) not the same as Iraq. The crude xenophobia surrounding the whole Iraqi gimmick, along with the exploitation of a war that was costing a tragic number of lives even as these segments aired, illustrated just how far off the mark of good taste the WWE's creative could be.