Muhammed Hassan...

[MikeRaw]

Pardon the randomness of this thread. I know it'll seem strange, but I was just on youtube, watching some old shit, and came across some Muhammed Hassan videos... Does anyone else miss this guy? And does it piss anyone else off that basically he was screwed out of being one of WWE's top heels? This guy was probably the most hated heel in the E for a good 4 months in 2005, and the heat he got when his theme music interupted everyone was incredible. What do you think the potential could've been for this guy, and anyone else miss him?

On a side note, this could possibly go into the classic wrestling section, but I think it suits here fine. If someone higher up than me wants to move it, go ahead.

 

[noumenon]

It was a pretty brutal heat drawing angle around the time it came out and was PERFECT for when it was.
I'm not sure how much more they could have done with him though. Perhaps disgracing the US Title..some crazy shit like that. Kinda like when team Canada slapped the Canadian flag all over WCW's belts..lol.

On an interesting side note too....he was full blooded ITALIAN!

The shit with the masked terrorists choking out Taker with piano wire and then carrying Davairi out I remember being pretty uncomfortable..lol.

 

[monkeystyle]

Loved him tbh. He was only an okay wrestler but he was a heat machine at the time. WWE of course (and I'm not referncing the bombing thing) of course couldn't be mature about the gimmick so it really started to sour before the end.

Also, I don't care what anyone says, after a few years of being a massive Arab-American heel, Hassan could've done a shock face turn and became a huge face.

 

[monkeystyle]

On an interesting side note too....he was full blooded ITALIAN!

Yeah, I know. When I get my beard going I've had people tell me I look Arabic too and I'm nowhere near as dark as Hassan.

 

[MikeRaw]

Loved him tbh. He was only an okay wrestler but he was a heat machine at the time. WWE of course (and I'm not referncing the bombing thing) of course couldn't be mature about the gimmick so it really started to sour before the end.

Are you referring to the infamous attack angle, with all the masked men? If so, I thought it was pretty good. Of course, I was younger then, and haven't seen it since, but the only bad thing was it happened to air on the same day as the London terrorist attacks.
And noumenon, I think there was alot more he could've done. Don't forget, just because a guy has the gimmick of an angry arab, doesn't mean every feud has to revolve around races. It's just the backdrop for his charter, and can eb the centre of some feuds, but as he progressed, not every feud needed to be centred around it. But man, i miss this guy just talking about him. So much potential.

 

[noumenon]

WWE wouldn't have known how to handle a face turn by him and he would have turned out like Khali or fuckin Sonjay Dutt.

But problem was...WWE didn't know how to NOT have it revolve around the Arab thing, since that was really the only thing gaining him heat at the time. Had WWE tried not to and people were still hating him for the Arab thing it would have almost seemed racist.

 

[MikeRaw]

Nah, don't underestimate WWE dude. First off, he was only there for less than a year, so of course they were gonna try to capitalise on the whole arab thing. If he were around now, they wouldn't have him only use that... It'd still be his gimmick, but he'd have more character depth. Contrary to popular belief, the company that carries the wrestling indusry isn't completely filled with morons.
Not to mention, even though he always spewed stuff about being discriminated, after the feud with Hogan and HBK, his feuds with cena and taker didn't really revolve around being an arab.

 

[monkeystyle]

Are you referring to the infamous attack angle, with all the masked men? If so, I thought it was pretty good. Of course, I was younger then, and haven't seen it since, but the only bad thing was it happened to air on the same day as the London terrorist attacks.

That's the one. That was the catalyst for me. It changed from I'm an American and just because I have a different skin clolour/religion from you, you boo me(xenophobia, the key to wrestling's top heels right?) to having him engage in pseudo-terrorist like acts they shot his entire charcter to hell. Honestly London bombings or not I think that segment killed any value the character had left in it aside from cheap heat.

WWE wouldn't have known how to handle a face turn by him and he would have turned out like Khali or fuckin Sonjay Dutt.

But problem was...WWE didn't know how to NOT have it revolve around the Arab thing, since that was really the only thing gaining him heat at the time.

You're probably right, there was just so many ways to pull it off. Have him save Hogan somehow and have Hogan endorse him as a "Real American' and tag with him a few times probably would've done quite a bit.

 

[monkeystyle]

Had WWE tried not to and people were still hating him for the Arab thing it would have almost seemed racist.

I think they already turned that corner long before when they had Austin come out on Raw and declare that 'I see sand people.'

 

[Airfixx]

he was screwed out of being one of WWE's top heels?

So what's the story there then?

 

[noumenon]

I do like the way they pulled it off. The fact that he wasn't a terrorist...but an Arab-AMERICAN who was bringing his ideals and transferring them onto American society. Telling us how corrupt our country was and we were taking the wrong path. It was an interesting spin on what could have been a very straight foward, insulting ARAB=TERRORIST angle.
If I'm not mistaken I believe it was the whole piano wire attack on Taker with the masked men that brought the angle into question.
Also, I believe he left on his own terms to pursue acting or something like that, not released.

 

[MikeRaw]

You're probably right, there was just so many ways to pull it off. Have him save Hogan somehow and have Hogan endorse him as a "Real American' and tag with him a few times probably would've done quite a bit.

Another way, which would be comedic as hell, wouild be to actually have someone expose him as not even being arab :roll2: Show that he's actually an american, with not even any arab blood, and then he could just explain that he wanted to promote equal rights, ha!

So what's the story there then?

The network SD was on decided his character was too controversial, and wouldn't let WWE put him on TV on SD, so, he could only make PPV appearances, so eventually they moved himt o Raw, had nothing for him, and released a man who could've become one of their greatest heels.

And noumenon, no, he was released. It was later on they offered him a deal to come back, and he turned it down to pursue acting. That was after he was released though. I still remember the day he was released. I was pissed.

 

[monkeystyle]

Actually I think that's only half right. He was on Raw to begin with, then got drafted to SD.

On SD he began a feud with Taker which resulted in a match where he sacrificed Daivari and then a cadre of masked men attacked and garrotted Taker. This unfortunately was aired on the same day this occured: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings

After this, UPN I think balked at the Hassan character and he was not shown on non-ppv tv again.

Shortly afterwards he wrestled Taker in a no holds barred match maybe at the GAB where Undertaker gave Hassan the last ride through the stage on to the concrete below ensuring that he Hassan would never offend anyone again.

Daivari moved to Raw then ECW I think and then that's all she wrote. Hassan didn't return due to teh aforemention acting reasons and from what I understand he really just didn't like wrestling very much.

 

[noumenon]

Oh wow... I didn't know about them wanting to limit him to PPV's and such.

 

[MikeRaw]

Actually I think that's only half right. He was on Raw to begin with, then got drafted to SD.

On SD he began a feud with Taker which resulted in a match where he sacrificed Daivari and then a cadre of masked men attacked and garrotted Taker. This unfortunately was aired on the same day this occured: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings

After this, UPN I think balked at the Hassan character and he was not shown on non-ppv tv again.

Shortly afterwards he wrestled Taker in a no holds barred match maybe at the GAB where Undertaker gave Hassan the last ride through the stage on to the concrete below ensuring that he Hassan would never offend anyone again.

Daivari moved to Raw then ECW I think and then that's all she wrote. Hassan didn't return due to teh aforemention acting reasons and from what I understand he really just didn't like wrestling very much.

I think he was moved to Raw, but never appeared. I remember Teddy Long sending him to Raw saying he can "go wherever he wants, but not SD". I think he may have even appearded on Raw once, but I'm not sure. And yes, you're right, Hassan was on Raw before Smackdown.

Off topic, but here's a classic vid:
[yt]kJ8sLUehWEk[/yt]
[yt]F_CEQRzm3IE&feature=related[/yt]