Wrestling News July 12, 2005

WWE is now getting major press for their controversial Muhammed Hassan angle from Smackdown last week.
First, we get the half-assed WWE non-apology:"We all feel bad about the timing of the segment," said WWE spokesman Gary Davis, who said the show wasn't attempting to depict a terrorist attack -- although he said he understood how some viewers might construe it as such. "People will see what happens this week (as the storyline) gets straightened out."

Now, the UPN half-assed non-apology: "Due to the tragic events in London, we took the added measure of running an advisory four times throughout the broadcast so that viewers could make the appropriate viewing decision for their household," the network said in a statement. "We will continue to monitor the situation involving this character and storyline."

SD: Neither party is willing to accept any blame for the controversy. It’s obvious by how the statements are worded that both companies felt that this could give their respective companies a bit of a boost by being “edgy” but after it failed to deliver as they hoped they are out for the quick fix.

Kevin Dunn was quoted by a few media outlets giving what is most likely the company standpoint: "We're very proud of our product," said "Smackdown" executive producer Kevin Dunn. "We try and be sensitive with everything we portray, but there's got to be protagonists and antagonists on our TV shows.

"We just happen to reflect the politics of the world sometimes — especially with these Arab-American characters."

SD: And as somebody who has a number of friends and acquaintances who are Arab-Americans, let me be quoted as saying “Bullshit.” The only politics reflected in that angle were of those in charge of the WWE product. The actions certainly weren’t in character for Hassan and Daivari. It was an attempt to bring back Shock TV. And just like the Katie Vick saga it backfired tremendously.

But we’re not quite done yet!

As the controversy develops over this, UPN is nixing further developments in the angle according to Meltzer: UPN sent word today to WWE after all the negative media publicity stemming from last week's show that they didn't want the Muhammad Hassan character on this week's show.

WWE had planned a storyline change for Hassan tonight in Worcester after the storyline involving terrorists from last week backfired.

SD: And now they’re screwed. UPN has all the power in this situation. WWE fails to realize that what you do on cable doesn’t necessarily mean it is appropriate for network broadcast. It’s sad that it takes bad timing with a real life event to lead WWE to realize their problems with representation on their programming.


Jeff Jarrett recently commented on what a rookie needs to do to make it as a wrestler: It's pretty simple as far as advice goes…LEARN THE BASICS. The basics of psychology. To be fundamentally sound in the ring and to do the best you possibly can at learning who your audience is. That's the essence of the entertainment business, understanding your audience.

SD: No arguments there.

In other TNA news, AJ Styles vs Sean Waltman has been added to this Sundays “No Surrender” pay per view card. The special guest referee will be Jerry Lynn. The rest of the card, at this point, is as followed:

STEEL CHAIN DOG COLLAR MATCH - NO SURRENDER
FOR THE NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
Raven (c) Vs. "The Monster" Abyss

X DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
"The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels (c) Vs. Petey Williams

America's Most Wanted Vs. Michael Shane and Alex Shelley

Samoa Joe Vs. Chris Sabin

SD: Good looking card. I just hope that the Raven/Abyss dog collar match isn’t as bad as the Trimmins/Abdul match I saw last Sunday. There’s still no official word whether or not Matt Hardy will be at the pay per view.

ROH News:
Ring of Honor announced over the weekend that Kenta Kobashi will be working for the company on October 1st.

This weekend sees Matt Hardy’s debut for the company this Saturday in Woodbridge, CT. Here’s the card:
*ROH champion CM Punk vs. James Gibson
*Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Hardy
*ROH Pure champion Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Rave
*ROH Tag Team champions The Carnage Crew vs. The Embassy vs. Lacey's Angels vs. The Ring Crew Express of Dunn & Marcos - Ultimate Endurance bout
*AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong
*Nigel McGuiness vs. Claudio Castagnoli
*Austin Aries vs. El Generico
*Homicide vs. Kevin Steen vs. Azrieal vs. Dixie

SD: Kenta Kobashi in ROH is huge news. He's one of the biggest names in the Japanese industry. He's very well respected by "smart" fans and many American workers as well. As for the Woodbridge show, I wish I could be there. I can't see CM Punk vs James Gibson being anything other than a fantastic match. I also think this will be the first time that a WWE contracted wrestler (Matt Hardy) will go one on one with a contracted TNA wrestler (Christopher Daniels).