Muhammad Hassan

[longlivetheBrood]

Wow do I remember him. Good looks, great build, amazing mic skills and his music was incredible when heard live. It would have been cool to see him make a surprise return at this year's Royal Rumble and have a repeat of him coming into the ring, everyone glaring at him and suddenly have a 6-1 beatdown. I could see him coming back to WWE and it working. Its been a few years so the media circus around what happened has died down (I in no way hold a grudge against the backlash that came down, Americans were being heheaded for Pete's sake) and if he returned with the same gimmick but didn't carry out those kind of antics (who thought that was a good idea to start with?!?!) then he'd go over very well feuding with Super Cena. Come on Vinnie Mac, throw some $$$ at him and give him another run since you screwed up his last one lol.

 

[MrHashasheen]

You know what's funny? The Brits didn't even give a shit. Or at least, not as much as the American media, who whined like a bunch of little girls. New York Times, TV Guide, Variety, and a bunch of other media outlets all whined, which got Hassan off of Smackdown when UPN put on the pressure. Anyway, the character was pure-gold had they kept it on as the Arab-American struggling with oppression and stereotyping, instead of the bent it took on Smackdown.

Also,

I don't blame Michael Hayes, I don't blame the media for overreacting, I blame only one person for ruining what was up to that point an awesome gimmick.

Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Remember, SD! was taped that Tuesday to air on Thursday. The London Bombing happened that Wednesday, AFTER the Hassan segment was filmed. Vince had 24 hours to do whatever he wanted to prevent any negative media that mught occur form airing the in-ring assault.

He could've aired around the segment, edit it so you show crowd reactions along with commentary, that way you never saw the guys in the masks, Bashir being carried away martyr (sp?) like. This could've still built the rivalry going into the GABash.

But instead he aired it as is, KNOWING the response he would get from the media, and he scapegoated Hassan once the heat came down.

What he should've done was film a segment from Stamford where JR, King, Cole, anybody could've said that something was filmed for SD! that was so graphoc that they CHOOSE to not air it. Intead we will show you highlights (or main event) of the past Monday's Raw. But...if you're interested...you can see the segment on WWE.com unedited. This would've still maintained interested in the Hassan/Taker feud, and the website would've been flooded and interest would've skyrocketed.

I think that should've been the case for the Hassan incident. Anyways with it being 5 years later, his character probably would've evolved to either a lighter shade of grey or straight face by now...but a man can dream.

http://www.wrestleview.com/news2005/1120848867.shtml

 

[Richie Cult]

Muhammad Hassan did his job SO well, that he was released from the company. Not too many jobs in this world where you get terminated for being "successful". He was so discouraged by the event that he gave up on his dream. It's a shame...

 

[apokalypse]

not sure if Hassan could became great but at that time Hassan was hot and so over more than cena(who was built to be the face of wwe), he got over so much that WWE originally book him to beat Undertaker and Batstia became Champions. WWE really drop the ball on him, they could have change from been anti-american to something else like have him as most hated guy in WWE, looking for justice after got screwed over and over agian in WWE. i believe Hassan is one of Modern best heel, he got so much heat from the fans also from other Heel stars. during that time i didn't follow WWE much just on and off and don't care but he's the one that i started watching WWE agian until 2 months after he left. Hassan is once in the blue moon could become superstars.

this is gold and it's his destiny become superstars after his fued Undertaker... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a08fhmLavo

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I thought he was a fantastic character, and a wonderful heel but the gimmick was probably unsuitable in the post 9-11 times. Anti-American gimmicks always get severe heat as the average American is very patriotic and proud of their country but to have an employee portraying a character whose country had recently commited horrific terrorist attacks on the US was always likely to get the TV networks up in arms, and was probably too controversial. The angle where the Undertaker being taken out was definitely too far to get broadcast on TV, but as another poster has said, the unedited version could have been shown on WWE.COM and an edited version on TV where you only ever saw the crowd or commentators reactions as Taker was carried out by the masked men.

Hassan was extremely talented though, he had a great look, the irritating manager, cool music and could certainly perform in the ring. It was a shame that this angle ended his WWE career. Daivari stuck around and wasn't abused by fans constantly, so I think Hassan could just have been repackaged and brought back to the main roster after a few months, but he was so disheartened that didnt want to remain in WWE after what ahad happened. As far as getting heat goes, Hassan was great but was that his talent or simply the gimmick. I don't know, but Hassan never got the chance to try anything else. Shame, really

 

[The Crock]

He was an enormous talent. He was a damn good heel, too. Anybody remember his Royal Rumble elimination, everybody in the match turned on him, it made him look like a legitimate threat. I mean, everybody wanted the guy out! He had a controversial gimmick, and it worked. He was getting so much heat from it, that I was surprised he wasn't getting big time title matches yet. He was the top heel there for a while, as a fan, you really just loved to hate the guy. It really is a shame that his gimmick became a little too controversial and that he had to be dropped, but what can you do? It was a lost opportunity to have a huge star.

 

[apokalypse]

Hassan could be once in the blue moon superstar like Austin-Rock and he be either Make or Break superstar because of huge heat he got, from what i know all megastar first debut/started from Heel and became babyface. Cena is pretty much shoving down our throat superstar thats why people so sick of him easily

 

[Cvaldezjr04]

I am so glad someone put up this thread! I thought I was weird for thinking Muhammad Hassan was great and could've been greater! He was AWESOME! Had everything to make him a legitimate heel. His story could've been greater than that of even SGT. Slaughter or Iron Sheik. The WWE was headed in the right direction with him by wanting to put the World Championship on him so soon, it would've solidified him as a major threat. He could've had feud with just about anybody and it would've been good. But like always lately, WWE, Ya dropped the ball on this one!