10 Worst Anti-American Wrestling Gimmicks
7. La Resistance
La Resistance debuted in April 2003 amidst rising tensions between the United States and Iraq. American troops had invaded Iraq in March as part of a mission entitled 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' (more on that later, amazingly), kicking off the Iraq War from the embers of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Learning somewhat from the tactless errors of the Sgt Slaughter turncoat gimmick during the original Gulf War, the company chose not to position an American traitor as the villain, but a trio of new French sympathisers instead.
Why it is the company insisted on using the conflict as an avenue for a character at all is unclear, but based on some extremely liberal use of television and pay-per-view time during the build-up to the mission, it was apparent that the company (presumably Vince McMahon himself) had very strong views on the situation.
France's refusal to support nor participate in any aspect of the invasion resulted in the positioning of Sylvain Grenier, Rene Dupree and later Rob Conway as villains for daring to suggest that war was not the answer.
The angle rapidly degenerated into xenophobic stereotypes being hurled by the heel trio to any spare babyfaces, who usually threw anti-French sentiment right back at them. Sacré bleu.