As a child of the 80's, my first experience of professional wrestling occurred during the Cold War. At the time, given the fact that I was around 4 years old, I thought nothing of "evil" Russian tag team The Bolsheviks being beaten up during a rendition of their national anthem, then demolished by uber-faces The Hart Foundation in seconds flat. Nor did I think, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, anything of Nikolai Volkoff's new-found alliance with the loud-mouthed, flag-waving "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. But hindsight, as always, is a miraculous tool, and now at the ripe-old age of 18, I can see the propaganda benefits that a well-worked wrestling angle can have, especially as the popularity of professional wrestling grows and grows.

This was brought to my attention this week on an edition of SmackDown! , in which Muhammad Hassan, the WWE's latest ethnic scapegoat, spoke out against an article in the New York Post which denounced him as a "terrorist" following the attacks in London. Now, as an Englishman myself, am I expected to harbour some kind of ill will towards Hassan for the attacks on my country" You would have thought that, in 2005, people would be more educated than to believe that a person's ethnicity and nationality determines their beliefs. Just as Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov were denounced as "Communists" by the majority of the then-WWF fan base of the 1980's and 90's, Hassan is denounced as a "terrorist" because of his character today.

In actuality, Hassan is an Italian-American, born and raised in the United States. Rather than detract from the message, however, this fact, I believe, seems to amplify the impact that these angles can have. Yes, it is important, and always has been, in the wrestling world to have characters that fans can boo and hiss, but where does this go from being a pantomime "hatred" of an obvious "character" to being a race-related real-life issue"

I believe the WWE has to be very, very careful when deciding on what to do with the character of Hassan, as well as what to do in general with race/nationality/religion-related storylines in the future. It's unfortunate that these events detract from Hassan's tremendous wrestling ability, but I am convinced that the WWE dropped the ball on this one. Rather than Hassan having to cut a promo himself on this issue, Vince McMahon should have come out to emphasise the point and draw the line between wrestling and reality, for the fans at the arena and all around the world. Unfortunate as it may seem, having an overtly-Muslim character was always going to be a risk post-9/11, and the WWE has a responsibility to make it clear that Hassan, and the overwhelming majority of Muslims, are not engaged in any terrorist activity of any kind, as they should have done with The Bolsheviks in the Cold War years, and the Iron Sheik before them. Vinnie Mac is far from stupid: he must've been able to see the impact a character like Hassan would have, and as unfortunate as it was, the response of the SmackDown! faithful was hardly surprising. It will be interesting to see what the WWE does with Hassan and Daivari in the next few weeks.

by Steve Rochester ..