DETROIT, July 26 (UPI) -- World Wrestling Entertainment fans may have seen the last of the controversial Arab fighter, Muhammad Hassan, the Detroit Free Press reports.
The scowling Hassan has been routinely booed as he stomped into arenas wearing an Arab headdress and yelling "Allah Akbar," Arab for god is great.
But the Free Press said Tuesday the fictional Arab actually portrayed by a 245-pound Italian-American has been written out of the WWE in response to complaints the organization was using bigotry and stoking hatred for profit, the Free Press said.
The WWE was criticized for airing an episode the same day as the London terrorist attacks that had Hassan enter the the arena with five men in black ski masks and camouflage as the crowed chanted "U-S-A!"
The Free Press, however, noted professional wrestling has a history of stereotyping foreigners. The Iron Sheikh and Nikolai Volkoff were popular wrestlers during the 1980s when the United States was embroiled in conflicts with the Soviet Union and Iran.
