Greatest American Antagonist

[The Brain]

Over the years there have been many wrestlers who have used hatred towards America as their gimmick. It’s a quick way to get some attention and some cheap heat. Some have used this gimmick very well while others seemed to kind of phone it in. Which American antagonist do you think did the best with their gimmick?

My choice was The Hart Foundation in 1997. This was a very interesting time in the WWF. The Hart Foundation were in a unique position where they were hated in the United States but loved everywhere else. It was amazing to see them switch from heel to face on any given week depending on where the event was. What I like best about them is how Bret never had a hatred for America before. It was the Americans that turned against him. Most guys come in with their America hating gimmick from the start. In this case Bret tried to remain the good guy but was finally pushed too far by the American fans. He wasn’t only loved for his own country of Canada. He was loved all throughout Europe, Asia, and South Africa. It’s was only America where he was hated. I think the Hart Foundation’s popularity throughout the rest of the world is what made them the best America antagonists. I have a choice for a close second too, but I’ll give others a chance to post first.

 

[Frank Gotch]

Over the years there have been many wrestlers who have used hatred towards America as their gimmick. It’s a quick way to get some attention and some cheap heat. Some have used this gimmick very well while others seemed to kind of phone it in. Which American antagonist do you think did the best with their gimmick?

My choice was The Hart Foundation in 1997. This was a very interesting time in the WWF. The Hart Foundation were in a unique position where they were hated in the United States but loved everywhere else. It was amazing to see them switch from heel to face on any given week depending on where the event was. What I like best about them is how Bret never had a hatred for America before. It was the Americans that turned against him. Most guys come in with their America hating gimmick from the start. In this case Bret tried to remain the good guy but was finally pushed too far by the American fans. He wasn’t only loved for his own country of Canada. He was loved all throughout Europe, Asia, and South Africa. It’s was only America where he was hated. I think the Hart Foundation’s popularity throughout the rest of the world is what made them the best America antagonists. I have a choice for a close second too, but I’ll give others a chance to post first.

I voted for the Hart Foundation as well. The level of hatred the fans had for Bret and the Foundation was unreal given that Hart had always been so popular since his singles run started. i also find it interesting of how WWF used Hart's popularity around the world to really lift the Hart Foundation angle. it seemed like at this time there was always a ppv or Raw or just some random show being held outside the US

 

[Big Sexy]

The Hart foundation from 1997 was spectacular and probably the best choice, but I'm going to give a little love to an underrated WCW group from it's dying days. That group was Team Canada.

They had a very short run but the stable did a tremendous job drawing heat. It started out as Lance Storm, the Quebecers, and Elix Skipper. Storm held the US, cruiserweight, and hardcore titles at the time and renamed them the "Canadian Heavyweight Championship", "100 Kilos and Under Championship", and "Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title". Storm put Canadian stickers on the belts and he gave the cruiserweight title to Skipper and the hardcore to one of the Quebecers.

After a while the Quebecers left and Team Canada drew even more heat by recruiting Jim fucking Duggan. 99% of fans had never seen Duggan as a heel, let alone an anti-America one. They also got Major Gunns to leave the MIA and join. They had another solid few month run until Duggan and eventually Skipper left the group. It officially ended with just Storm and Mike Awesome as a tag team when WCW was sold.

They had a great run albeit short and drew tremendous amounts of heat. Not the best American antagonists but the group was a personal favorite of mine and deserves a mention.

 

[Whatsinaname696]

Went with Slaughter, to me it was comparable to hogans turn to hollywood, I mean here is SGT. Slaughter, patriot, serviceman, american and not only did he go bad, one step farther, F America! He joins Iraqs side (or Irans, been awhile I forget exactly which) Wins the belt as this character, his only WHC in WWE I think, has his old hated enemy come in (Sheik) as his new best friend and went on to feud with Hogan, this one def. gets my nod, as I alluded to, kinda makes me think of the nWo of anit-america

 

[The Brain]

Went with Slaughter, to me it was comparable to hogans turn to hollywood, I mean here is SGT. Slaughter, patriot, serviceman, american and not only did he go bad, one step farther, F America! He joins Iraqs side (or Irans, been awhile I forget exactly which) Wins the belt as this character, his only WHC in WWE I think, has his old hated enemy come in (Sheik) as his new best friend and went on to feud with Hogan, this one def. gets my nod, as I alluded to, kinda makes me think of the nWo of anit-america

Slaughter is a good choice. It was shocking to see him turn his back on the USA and side with Iraq during the war. Even though this was a huge storyline where he ended up winning the world title and main eventing WrestleMania with Hulk Hogan, I think his turn is somewhat overlooked. The reason is the time he spent away from the WWF. Slaughter left WWF right when Hulkamania was taking off and before the first WrestleMania. By the time he returned in 1990 there was a whole new fan base who wasn't familiar with Slaughter. The younger fans just looked at him as a new heel, not a former mega face who was turning heel. I'm sure it meant more to some older fans, but the kids didn't realize how much of a traitor Slaughter was.

 

[King_of_Swing1520]

i had to go with the iron sheik. really the original american antagonist to me. hell were still fighting the chracter he portrayed. but the hart foundation would be a very close second.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

I voted for Muhammad Hassan. Even though he wasn't around long enough to build a solid reputation as an anti-American superstar, he did draw in enough heat that WWE felt it prudent to let him go; and probably for his own health too.

I don't remember WWE letting any other wrestler go for how well they drew in the heat, not even American antagonists. But Hassan played his role well for an Italian and he presumably played his character as well as a heel should- maybe too well considering he is no longer there.

 

[InuJoshua]

I also chose Hassan...

The thing that made him stand out as an American Antagonist was that he really didn't hate America like the rest of them did. He pointed out the discrimination his character has to go through because he was an arab american in a post 9-11 world... and the crowd HATED him for it.

While he wasn't around long, he made a huge impression on the crowd and often got more heat than anyone else in the building despite only being around for a handful of months. He was a pro on the mic and often had the fans eating out of the palm of his hands.

Even though his legacy wasn't a long one, for the huge reaction he got in such amount of time and especially due to his talent on the mic... that pretty sums up my vote...

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Sgt. Slaughter.

Slaughter was the personification of an American Patriot. He loved his country with a deep passion rivalled by only Hulk Hogan. If one man from pro wrestling was to represent America, that would be Slaughter. Hell he was even a character in GI Joe. HOWEVER in the Summer of 1990, that changed.

Slaughter became the biggest heat magnet in wrestling. The Sarge had turned his back on his country. He favoured with the Arabians and ditched the Pro-Americana side for Anti-Americans. He would go on to accomplish much more as a heel than he ever would as a face. he was rewarded with the World Wrestling Federation Championship, ending the 10 month reign of the Ultimate warrior and would in fact main even WrestleMania VII with Hulk Hogan.

The level of hatred in the States for this man can be measured by one incident. WrestleMania VII was scheduled to be held inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but due to fear that Slaughter would in fact be assassinated by a sniper, the stadium was changed to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. NO ONE has ever had that amount of threat placed on them before or since.

 

[King Blitzkonic]

Time for me to take a trip to Old School and a man who had a pretty decent feud with the Sarge before he became the hated heel mentioned here. My pick: Colonel DeBeers, the South African Mercenary whose gimmick was based on the apartheid movement of the time. Mind you he was in Vern Gagne's AWA promotion and didn't get quite the exposure as the rest did, BUT he had the knack for getting booed out the arena, especially after a vicious attack on Jimmy Snuka and Slaughter.

 

[legendkiller1979]

Before I make my choice I would like to comment on the Hart Foundation. I get why people picked them, but it just didn't work for me. Bret just didn't work as a heel for me.
All the things he said about America made people angry and I get it but it didn't have as much potency coming from Bret. I think it would have had a lot more effect if it was Owen making the comments. I guess it's pretty obvious that I'm a big Bret Hart fan so I guess that's a big reason why Bret as a heel didn't work for me. That's just my opinion.
Now to move on to Hassan. If it weren't for the towel on his head, Davari, and his awful entrance music, he would not have been nearly as hated. It's been said already that a lot of what he said was true and I agree. You don't have to be happy about it but you have to acknowledge that he made some good points.
I have to go with the Iron Sheik for my choice. When you think of the members of the Hart Foundation you don't think of the Un American gimmick. And years from now there will be alot of people who won't know who Hassan is. However it's been 25 years and people still remember the Iron Sheik and his umamerican gimmick. There's no way he could have been anything else but what he was. Even Sgt Slaughter's gimmick only lasted a few months. The Sheik was around for many years and would come back today and pick up where he left off. Having Nikolai Volkoff as his tag team partner made it all the better. The Sheik was a great choice as a transitional champion for the start of hulkamania. There have been a number of great antagonists but the Iron Sheik is classic.

 

[plagiuss]

I guess I am very old school. I agree Col. DeBeers was evil. But also no one has mentioned IVAN KOLOFF. The RUSSIAN BEAR. He was around forever and always protrayed the evil Russian fueding with Dusty Rhodes, Bruno and a host of others.

 

[god-soldier]

I like the Hart Foundation for their antiamerican hate n Ludvig Borga I always thought was a great anit american heel his promos on americnas and their lives were great and when he ending Tatankas undeafted streak with a oniky finger pin was great and got him over the top for a fued with Luger.
Sgt Slaughter being a traitor was a retarted move and gimmick it was done horrible he should of just been an evil military guy would of been fine him been a turncoat was really dumb and made no sense since he fought against Iran 10 years earlier and then they let him be a good guy again in the same year which was stupid as well Sgt Slaughters turn was the worse.
But hands down the best one ever was Muhammad Hassan he got over in a big way and he did such a great job portraying an Arab american his hate towards america and the fans was the best but the WWE ruined it when they bought in his terrorist group to come in and look like jihad suicide bombers and alqueda forces fucked it up all he could of been the biggest heel ever if they didnt go to far with it Muhammad Hassan was the best anti american heel ever

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I went for Hassan too. I wont list the same reasons as everyone else, but what I liked most about him, and CM Punk too, is that even if they don't get a lot of mic time, they are guaranteed to say at least one thing that will really get under the skin of the audience and draw some heat for it.

 

[Davi323]

I went with Nikolai Volkoff. I can still remember the cups being thrown into the ring every time he tried to sing the Russian national anthem and waving his Soviet flag around. His entire career was based on that...as a singles wrestler, as a tag team with the Iron Sheik, to forming the Bolsheviks with Boris Zhukov, Nikolai is in the WWE HOF because of his anti-American character.

 

[harrythem]

Firstly I'm upset that no-one mentioned Nikita Koloff as he was pretty good in WCW and if Borga can get up there, so should he be. I'd personally pick the Harts because it was the most original twist on the anti-american heel and it also helped set up the most profitable period in wrestling history.

Also would give major props to Fritz Von Eric as his character helped make his territory one of the greatest in history (for a while at least)

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I voted for the Hart Foundation.

Simply put, Bret Hart had been a face for almost all his WWE career, and taken taken pride in being the biggest fan favourite in the promotion. In his autobiography, he mentions receiving more fan-mail that Hulk Hogan at one point. The American fans had always loved Bret, and he had taken great pride in being their hero.

But with the WWE moving more towards the "attitude" era, and guys like Shawn Michaels becoming sleazier and getting over with the US fans like that, Bret became fed up with and betrayed by the American wrestling fans, and began a gimmick that had never been done before (or at least as far as I can remember).

He played the role of a heel in America, coming out with the Canadian flag and constantly praising his home nation, therefrore remaining a HUGE face whenever the WWE went to Canada. He also remained a face when the WWE travelled abroad, but drew massive heat in the US.

I like this gimmick because there is a genuine rivalry between the US and Canada and it was very interesting to see Hart manage to pull off being a mega heel in one nation, and a huge national hero in another. In my opinion, this was of my favourite times to watch The Hitman, as I had never previously believed that he could play a convincing heel, and he proved me wrong with this gimmick

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think King Blitzkonic's post on Colonel DeBeers was a good one as DeBeers is someone I forgot about. What stood out more for me about him, however, was the overt use of racism with his gimmick. He often refused to wrestle black wrestlers or have black refs as a means of generating heat and it's just something you wouldn't be able to get away with today.

For me, however, I have to go with The Hart Foundation in 1997 because it was something that was completely fresh and unexpected. Bret Hart had long since been a face and I found it rather shocking that he'd go on a rave against America. I was 17 at the time and had little to no grasp of politics and Bret Hart didn't fit the pattern. He wasn't Russian, French, British, Japanese or Arab and I'd never really seen a Canadian antagonizing America so openly and hostily before. In those days, I never really saw Canada as being very different at all from the states and it kind of opened up a bit of a new world for me I guess. It also wasn't the usual rhetoric that I'd heard for years from Russians or Arabs or Japanese wrestlers. The whole thing was just a breath of fresh air and a great change from all the various stereotypical American antagonist wrestlers I'd been exposed to.