WWE have a history of controversial storylines and characters.
While many look back on The Attitude Era fondly, with stars like Steve Austin and The Rock propelling the company to new heights, stars such as Val Venis and Beaver Cleavage are ones that the company would prefer fans to forget.
The company arguably pushed the envelope even further with The Ruthless Aggression Era by introducing the character of Muhammad Hassan. The former WWE Superstar claimed he was being discriminated against by the USA becasue of his Muslim faith. WWE would then further Hassan’s creative direction in July 2005, where Hassan would summon multiple masked men to assault and choke out The Undertaker.
Due to tragic real life events taking place in London, the angle was immediately scrapped and Hassan was banned from appearing on WWE TV, being written off at the Great American Bash pay-per-view.
Jim Ross Criticises Controversial WWE Character Origins
Jim Ross had been a part of WWE both behind the announcer’s desk and behind the scenes during the company’s most infamous angles. While JR has been frequently critical of the poor taste angles through the years, the former announcer believes that some angles should never have exited in the first place.
Speaking on the Grilling JR podcast, Ross has stated which gimmick in wrestling should never be done:
“Yeah, don’t go there. A race, religion are two things popping off my head right away, there’s no reason in this wide world of creative and all the opportunities and things that we could be doing other than pointing out that. It’s just hard to understand why we’re doing that and you know, is it based in reality? Are there racists out there? Well, hell yeah of course there are unfortunately. It’s pretty sad, but I would not have gone that way. I would not have brought in religion or race whatsoever. I wouldn’t even got close to that.”
Since WWE moved the network over to Peacock, multiple racially offensive segments have been cut from broadcasts. Most notably, Roddy Piper’s blackface at WrestleMania 6 and Mr. McMahon uttering a racial slur in can not be found on the streaming service.
H/t to EWrestling News for the use of transcription.