Pt 2: The Controversial - Muhammad Hassan

[DJ-LyRiX]

Sorry this has taken me much longer to come up with a second topic as part of my controversy series, but I have been busy with university coursework etc.

In any case, the subject for Part 2 is Muhammad Hassan. This thread could be featured in the Raw or SmackDown section, but I figured SD because this is where he ended up and where his biggest controversy came.

So at the tail-end of 2004, we get this new "Arab" superstar who is trying to make the world tolerate Muslims more. He was immediately a heel after anatagonising JR and the King for the way they portrayed him and his manager, Daivari.

He went on to have an undefeated streak, have an altercation with no less than Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 21, and challenged Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship, before being drafted to Smackdown in June 2005.

It was in these next couple of weeks where it all went wrong for Hassan.

He was involved in an angle with the Undertaker, where he summoned 5 masked men to the ring who choked Taker out with a piano wire. The show was taped on the Tuesday, to air on Friday night. But on Friday morning, the London Bombings took place. The segment still aired in the USA.

WWE removed the character and the storyline after a PPV match between Hassan and Taker. Hassan left wrestling and hasn't been seen in a ring since.

His in-ring abilities were pretty good, and he had good promo skills too.

SO why did it fail? Was that angle too strong, or just bad timing? Should his gimmick have been different?

Thoughts people!!!!

 

[Total Impact]

It failed because the WWE went to far with the gimmick when they had him do this thing that was too close to an attack that happen in London I think. I loved the Hassan gimmick and think it was the best gimmick wrestling had at that time, but wrestling has changed in years and stereotypical gimmicks just don’t work the same like they used too.

Look at Cryme Tyme, instead of being thugs, they are playful thugs who still, but ten years earlier, they would have been heels and eating fried chicken on TV. WWE was just too strong with the gimmick and the main stream can’t take too strong characters. That’s why John Cena has been toned down and why Orton may be toned down in the future. Hassan was the last cool gimmick in the WWE as he played off our emotions and you really wanted to see him get his ass kicked every week, yet hope he wins his matches. I mean he got over in hurry when he came, when that music hit, the group was booing in a instance. I thought the WWE should have kept the gimmick going, but the CW network said no, but what a heel he would have been in the WWE.

 

[DJ-LyRiX]

I think gimmicks being dumbed down is something that WWE does seem to do quite regularly, which is a shame - sometimes a gimmick needs to be "out there" to work.

I agree, I think that Hassan could have been a much bigger deal than he was, as he clearly had potential. I also very much enjoyed his gimmick.

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

CW or whatever network Smackdown was on didn't want the character on TV at the time. If RAW was the only show at the time it's possible he could have stayed. WWE, from what I have read, caved to the pressure of the network (there's likely lots of cash on the table there).

Muhammad Hassan was a great character. He had a great look, was good on the mic and was decent in the ring. He was also a great heel, especially in his "I'm am American and you're discriminating against me due to my religion" promos. I love Hassan and would loved to have seen him stay. He could be a top player in my opinion. He was a guy who had an "it' factor, but it unfortunately didn't work out.

 

[HeartWong]

Great gimmick.. But I guess Muhammad Hassan is unlucky as his action on the undertaker happen at such a unlucky time..

 

[kenvin100]

The gimmick is what killed Hassan..honestly created this terrorist type gimmick was inappropriate, and the thing in london was the nail in the coffin..he was a great wrestler overall, but its too bad he got squashedy terribly by Taker in the end..

 

[DJ-LyRiX]

I think the reason he got squashed so badly was to write the Hassan character off TV, then to bring him back with an altered gimmick. But he chose not to have one and left WWE in September of that year. Shame.

 

[The Bearded One]

What killed Hassan was WWE's stupidity. They new what they taped on Tuesday. They were aware of what happened in London that day. They knew what they were going to air on Smackdown. They should have known that there was going to be backlash. It was WWE's stupidity that brought the downfall of his character. Hassan was far too edgy to be on basic cable television.

 

[The Instant Classic91]

Hassan was a victim of circumstance, the gimmick was simply brilliant and anyone who says the WWE went too far with it is an idiot.
The gimmick only worked because he said what everybody was thinking, although never admitting it.
That due to the way he looked he must be a terrorist, and as much as saying it pissed people off they knew he was right, the single most important aspect of a good heel promo.
If they watered it down and didnt let him say what he did it would just be an idiotic rambling arab with a chip on his shoulder aka Sheik Abdul Bashir.

The man was skilled in the ring and even more so on the mic, he just got screwed by the WWE, frankly there was clearly no relation to what he did and the london bombings, how could there be? But he was an arab therefore it was a terrorist attack as opposed to any other gang attack that happens a hundred times every week in the WWE.
And then the WWE made a scapegoat of the poor man for what they told him to do.
The WWE and the general idiotic masses cost this man his job.

 

[slimymeteor]

I was a big fan of Muhammad Hassan. I thought the gimmick was brilliant, and it was very successful.. I still remember the massive, massive heat he would bring from the fans at shows. He had a great look, good in the ring and on the mic, all to go along with the great gimmick.

What I loved about the gimmick was that Hassan wasn't really a terrorist. He wasn't even foreign, he was an Arab-American who was sick of all the prejudice he'd receive because of a terrorist attack he didn't support and had nothing to do with. It was unique and it worked.

What obviously caused it to fail had nothing to do with the performer. Creative decided to actually make Hassan a terrorist ringleader by hiring masked men to nearly kill the Undertaker. Making him actually a terrorist contradicted what the gimmick was supposed to be (ordinary American who's only stereotyped as a terrorist). So I guess you can't really blame the network for saying, "We don't want a terrorist character on the wrestling show." and you can't blame WWE for pulling the character at that point, even though they thought it'd be good to actually make Hassan a terrorist.

What irks me about it is the occasional shots WWE will take at Hassan, blaming the failure of the character completely on him, and implying that he never had any talent anyway, when the truth is that creative killed the wrestling career of a very promising superstar with stupid booking and management decisions. But I guess since Hassan quit the business after this incident, why should WWE admit their blunder when it's easier to just place the blame on him?