10. Mohammed Hassan & Davari
Pushing the boundaries of what you could do on WWE TV, Hassan and Davari debuted in late 2004 in front of an American audience still sore from 9/11. As is usually the case in professional wrestling, foreign equals heel, but it was their outspoken nature that really caught the attention of the fans. Their diatribes about the representation of Middle-Eastern people on television since the attacks on the World Trade Center struck a chord with the audience, mainly because they were right.
The best heels speak with a grain of truth in their words, that’s the reason Punk’s shoot promo worked (although it effectively turned him face) and that’s why Hassan and Davari’s incendiary words were so effective with the WWE audience. In the short time he was with the company, he drew a level of fan heat unheard of since the days of security guards having to escort the Fabulous Freebirds away from arenas to avoid people who genuinely wanted them dead.
It was real when the pair went on a tirade about misrepresentation in the media and it’s hard to argue against much of what they were saying. Their time in the WWE came to a head when a terrorism storyline feud against the Undertaker, in which men with ski masks, clubs and piano wires attacked ‘Taker after a match, occurred just three days before the London bombings.
The television networks wanted nothing to do with Hassan and Davari, somewhat proving most of what they were saying in their promos and the WWE had no choice but to let them go a month or so later.
0 comments:
Post a Comment