Muhammad Hassan

[King Douche]

Remember this man? He could of went down as the greatest heel in professional wrestling history. He was the best heel during his short lived WWE career on the Smackdown brand. This man was so great as a heel fans really wanted to attack him when he was at the shows. His muslim gimmick or whatever you wanna call it were he was disresptcing United States cause they always looked at his people as bad guys and treated them like crap promos were amazing! He was suppose to be Wortld Heavyweight Champion beating Batista at Summer Slam 2005, but because of an incident WWE let him go. They could of just repackaged his gimmick, but guess it would not have been the same. But boy was he a great heel, one of the best ever in the buisness, could of been the best sadly enough. What you think?

 

[quagmire]

I loved him as a heel. His promo's were so very much true. Since 9/11 Arab's or anyone that looked like they could be Middle Eastern was discriminated against because we feared they could be terrorists. Which in his introduction could have given him a face or heel persona. It wasn't until he outright started to insult the US is when the real heat began to come out for him. If he was still in the WWE, he could have been a bigger heel then Orton is in terms of heat.

Shame the media overreacted to his character.

 

[WRESTLING_GENIUS]

I argee he was one hell of a heel but the best ever no way, but Hassan could be effective now if the WWE signed him back, but its crazy how much of a concedience that was tho the same day he does that stint,the same day it happens in reallife, but anyway Hewas a great heel could of been champion and could of been around til this day as a top contender but not the greatest heel of all time.

 

[classicviolence]

Remember when Hassan fought Cena for the WWE title. Well, he should have won the belt and jobbed it out the following week on RAW. That would have ruled.

Yeah, Hassan was a awesome heel. I think Micheal Hayes sabotaged the character because of the terrorist attack they used on the Undertaker was kinda too far. If he never went to SD!, he probably have been better off.

 

[SickJames]

I think it sucks and shows how people always have to ruin it for everyone else. He was a wrestler, there shouldve never been an issue with anything he did on TV or why not attack other shows that have characters like Hassan.

He was a great heel and I just hate it when ppl get offended over the stupidest things. I mean it was a gimmick nothing more. He should still be around today, the heat he would get at Tribute to the Troops would be awesome, but no they have to let him go because we cant have a gimmick like that in the WWE after 9/11.

so he did a terrorist attack on Taker. he cut an awesome promo (the one where he talked about the New York Post- his best ever imo)

ppl shouldve let it go. 9/11 was an inside job anyway

 

[marklouis]

I think he got a raw deal in getting fired. He could have been a great heel, could have been the type of wrestler that pushed buttons and also got people thinking, if it were done the right way. I'm not saying make the guy into a terrorist, but just have him point out some facts about this country and our policies and let people decide for themselves. He could have been like a political CM Punk. But the WWE chickened out and fired him just because they got a little bad press. There was a time when Vince would have actually ratched up Hassan's behavior because he would have seen the benefits of pushing the envelope. But those days are gone.

 

[stussyman311]

He was an awesome heel. I understand the sensitivity of people since 9/11, but I agree with you all, it was a gimmick people took too far. He was like the modern day Sgt. Slaughter. Remember during Desert Storm he turned his back on America and aligned with the Iron Sheik? That was incredible, he drew such heat from the crowds, people wanted to come after him in public. If the WWE got through that situation with flying colors, they could've rode out the whole Hassan thing. He was amazing and I wish they'd bring him back already and just give him some kind of subpar heel role. He has the look to act like a gangster (Not the New Jack kind), he could kind of be a Sopranos type gimmick but obviously not be Italian haha.

 

[nHoBoss]

well first off, he is italian.....that's what makes it so funny....these freaking media reporters......It's entertainment, u didn't see hollywood banning the movie Sword Fish, or die hard movies.....he was prolly one of thee best heels back in 2005......now I guess he owns a workout studio in Cali, and does acting as well.....Godbless Muhammad Hassan or should I say Shane.

 

[robbo316]

yes, he was like Sgt,Slaughter, but with a difference of time. Hussain never commited an act of terrorism of the scale of 9/11. With the symbolicness(is that even a word? hell, it'll work) of certain things his character was to do in the ring,, creative sent it in the wrong direction.
Completely off topic but did anyone hear about Chemical Ali, Saddams cousin, being executed yesterday? Apparently he was sentenced to death 4 times, can somebody explain the sense in that? You can only be killed once, it's like the guy a few years back who was sentenced to 345 years plus life, something is very wrong somewhere. Discuss.

 

[baken1942]

I agree, he could have been the best heel ever in professional wrestling. He played that character perfectly, until other people stuck their noses in and ruined him and that was the end of him. He was a WRESTLER, and WRESTLERS are CHARACTERS.

So does that mean, Undertaker should be taken off tv too? Cuz WWE is PG now, so you dont want kids thinking the lightning and rolling the eyes of the demon and making rings fall apart and what not, is real, so if thats the case, Take Taker off TV.

Same goes for The Boogeyman when he was around. You dont want kids thing he is real so he shouldnt have been on TV either. Its pathetic.

I was hoping TNA was going to bring him back in with Bashir sometime, but he is doing movies and that never happened.

 

[stussyman311]

well first off, he is italian.....that's what makes it so funny....

Didn't know he was Italian, thanks for point that out! So then a Sopranos gimmick could work for the guy, bring him back as a Heel mobster. He could pull that off well!

 

[T2KFreeker]

Yeah, I always wonder how different things could have been had WWE kept him around. The guy was not only a great Heel with legitimate Heat. To boot, the guy was great on the Mic, which was another reason why he was hated so much. Really sad he was released. I wonder what he's doing these days anyway.

 

[King Douche]

He was an awesome heel. I understand the sensitivity of people since 9/11, but I agree with you all, it was a gimmick people took too far. He was like the modern day Sgt. Slaughter. Remember during Desert Storm he turned his back on America and aligned with the Iron Sheik? That was incredible, he drew such heat from the crowds, people wanted to come after him in public. If the WWE got through that situation with flying colors, they could've rode out the whole Hassan thing. He was amazing and I wish they'd bring him back already and just give him some kind of subpar heel role. He has the look to act like a gangster (Not the New Jack kind), he could kind of be a Sopranos type gimmick but obviously not be Italian haha.

Yeah he could come back in a mafia like gimmick, were he forms a stable and attack wrestlers, trying to take over the WWE. But his Arab/American gimmick would still be far better then a gangster gimmick.

 

[bxbigshow]

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.

 

[Wrestlebeast]

I agree with you it was not Micheal Hayes's fault it was Vince McMahon, he was a careless lazy scumbag and could have edited it and it backfired. He lost one of the greatest heels of the 21st century. If he would edited it I'm pretty sure Mohammed Hassan would have been a multiple time would champion

 

[MoneyMack]

I do remember this guy- he was pretty good. Wasnt it Divari that did alot of the talking? Either way- he was obviously pretty good, cuz everyone here is praising him.

So- why wouldnt Vince just repackage him if he was that good tho? Im just asking- cuz I dont know the answer. No need to bash. Like you guys are sayin: with a Italian mobster type gimmick. Obviously he woulda had to of been off of TV for a good amount of time, but I gotta think it coulda been pulled off if Vince wanted to.

Maybe Hassan as a performer felt slighted by VKM & just didnt wanna ever get back into the business after that. Would be nice to see him back again tho.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Hassan didn't work because of the London Bombings. Vince decided to squash his character and release him. Which was the only fair thing to do. It was a tough time with 9/11 not too far away and those bombings taking place in London.

As far as his heel work? He was your classic foreign heel. The Iron Sheik did it before him, and others like Skandar Akbar did it, too. Hassan was just athletic enough to pull off as being a threat to people. And once you're gimmick is an Arab American, you're not going to be repackaged. Imagine The Iron Sheik repackaged as something else. Wouldn't work too well would it.

 

[C.Msupporter]

I agree that Hassan has being one of the best heels in recent memory and besides him being able to back up everything he said in the ring, he was able to take down some big superstars both smackdown and raw, the biggest win i saw him pull off that i can remember was wraping a chair round big shows neck and getting a 1-2-3, After a few months of him leving you sort of forget about him. but he was a great heel and it's sad to see how it turned out for him

 

[Depakote]

The guy had a great look with lots of talent however it was all just bad timing. The whole maxim that controversy creates cash doesnt fly as well in today's age when it comes to sensitive subjects like terrorism. It worked with Sgt. Slaughter back when it was just hostages being held captive. There were no attacks on American soil and the geo-political climate wasnt the same, yet look at what came of that: Sgt. Slaughter's life was threatened, etc. Had the Hassan angle been played to full instead of getting cut short, who knows what kind of shit storm of a backlash it wouldve caused. Its best that WWE actually stopped that angle before it alienated their sponsors and affected their cash flow. Its just sad that a talent like Hassan and his endless potential had to suffer the most from WWE creatives' poor timing.

 

[Jayg619]

muhammad hassan was taken off tv when he attacked the undertaker with masked men, and happened in the same week London 7/7 terrorists attacks happened

it wasnt really the wwe creatives timing, it was down to the terrorists attacks on london that happened, wwe smackdown had already been filmed and was due to go on tv, then the attack on london happened, its not the wwe's fault, they didnt expect what happened on 7/7 to happen

 

[JJohns]

I loved the Hassan character. He was the most compelling character in WWE for such a long time, but the problem that he ended up running into at the end of his WWE run was the fact that he probably couldn't be used outside of PPV after the London Terrorist Attacks. It's been long stated that UPN no longer wanted the character on their airwaves, and I'm pretty sure that USA would have been the same way.

The thing that I really enjoyed about the character that Mark Copani played was the fact that he didn't play just an Arab character in the vein of Adnan al-Kaisse, the Iron Sheik or the Original Sheik. He played an Arab-American character that was angry because of the racism that many Arabs in the US was facing at the time (and in a way still do today).

One last thing, the Undertaker vs Daivari match and the segment that followed aired the same day as the attacks, and that is why it couldn't be edited out of the broadcast by WWE, as it had already been delivered to the network.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I wouldn't go as far as to say he could have been the BEST heel.... I disagree there. He WAS good at getting heel heat back when he was around though. I think that he could have been given a new character and tried to get over with that character when they had to get rid of his Muhammad Hassan character. I understand that it's tough to get a new gimmick over after one like that, but in my opinion the guy deserved a shot at trying to get a different character over with the crowd. Was it that WWE was told to get rid of the gimmick or the guy himself? I didn't go to sites like wrestlezone at the time so I don't even remember. However, if it was only the gimmick that had to go, then the guy who played Hassan should have gotten a shot with a new character instead of sending him back to developmental before releasing him, since what happened leading up to his release wasn't his fault, it was a bad coincidence of having the wrong gimmick at the wrong time.

 

[martin]

Yeh I liked Muhammad Hassan, like when someone was doing a promo in the ring or just match time and you heard his theme music play and instant heat on him.

At the height of his popularity/notoriety, whatever you wanna call it, he was "killed off". I remember reading that he was put back to OVW under a new gimmick with a mask, but eventually released. I would've been pissed if I was him, booked to face the World champ at SummerSlam and then dropped.

As said in posts above, I don't know who you can say was responsible for his removal though definitely not Copani. I just remember this day well (had friends on a holiday down in London when it happened).
I'm glad someone introduced this topic, I think he's a character that is casually forgotten but remembered by fans on the forum

 

[Tougie]

I never actually knew he was suppose to win the world title. That would have been awesome. He truely was a great heel, just for being foreign much like the Iron Sheik was. It's a shame they let such a good character disappear without capitalizing on its full potential

 

[Tastycles]

The reason that Hassan could have been a huge heel is the same reason his character was never going to work long term. Whereas the Russians in the 80s were born out of a perceived threat, the threat of constant action from Muslim extremists is a real threat and it was never going to be very long before Hassan went to far. The man was always treading on thin ice, because it was clear that as soon as there was a real international incident, trivialising it in a wrestling context is untenable. That's what happened here, and the character was ultimately to edgy for its own good.