R.D. Lee
RDLee Presents: "What Could Have Been" - Muhammad Hassan
By RDLee
Feb 8, 2010 - 8:30 AM

I was sitting at home today playing Mass Effect 2 and decided to try writing about a new idea I had for a series of articles I would like to share with you all every once and a while. It's called the "What Could Have Been" chronicles. I will be taking a look at some of the forgotten stars of wrestling's past that could have been game changers by now if they had stayed in the WWE.

My first subject of choice was one of wrestling's most controversial characters of the past decade in Muhammad Hassan.

This was a man that when introduced to the WWE fans back in December of 2004 actually had a warning posted about his pending controversy.  His video package and character showed him and his manager, Khosrow Daivari introducing themselves to the WWE fans. He referred to himself as a Middle Eastern-American wrestler that wanted to erase any doubt created by the 9/11 attacks. He simply wanted a chance to prove himself as a decent man.

He went on to interrupt several wrestlers before, during and after their matches in an attempt to convince the people that he was not the enemy. He spoke of not being a criminal or a bad man but insisted on his own justification whenever he attacked fan favorites such as WWE Hall of Fame announcers Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler and many WWE stars such as the Hurricane, Sgt. Slaughter and Shelton Benjamin.

The man became a top heel in only a matter of months and ended up being singled out in 2005's Royal Rumble when he entered midway thru the bout only to have everyone in the ring stop and toss him out because they all hated him so much. Hassan also ended up getting himself involved with some of the biggest stars of the present and the past such as a fued with Hulk Hogan and Shawn Micheals which say them team up to beat Hassan and Daivari at Backlash.

Muhammad ended up with mild success on the Raw brand and even had a few World title matches against both John Cena and Batista only to come up short in both. He was drafted to Smackdown where he truly broke out and began a feud with the Undertaker which would soon see his exit out the company due to the controversy he caused on the way out.

During the ongoing battles week after week between Undertaker and Hassan he was involved in a storyline that saw him bring out a bunch of masked men that resembled the middle eastern enemies of the US military. The masked men choked out the Undertaker and carried him away in symbolic fashion of the real life nature of what happens during terrorism. They also had the misfortune of airing that on UPN the very night of the London bombing.

Suffice to say, UPN was outraged and demanded that Hassan be removed from their station immediately to which WWE used Hassan to wrestle his final WWE match at The Great American Bash in a losing effort to the Undertaker. He was said to have been supposed to win that match and become the number one contender for Batista's title at the following months Summerslam PPV. Hassan's character was Last Ride powerbombed by the Undertaker thru the metal stage thus ending his run and effectively killing his gimmick off for good in the storylines.

Shortly after that, WWE sent him and Daivari back to developemental in hopes to readjust his character so they could use him again on Raw down the line after the issues died down a little. WWE suddenly changed their minds however and Hassan (real name - Mark Copani) was released from his WWE contract on September 21, 2005. Copani reportedly quit pro wrestling to pursue a career in acting but has not made any headlines since.

Now that the history leason is out of the way and you all know his story it allows me to simply wonder "What Could Have Been" if he were still around now. Obviously since WWE is now rated TV PG and things are getting more tame with the lack of swearing, controversy and even former diva matches that weren't held in the ring.

I doubt that he would be as controversial as he was back then today but I shudder to think at how much they would have changed him by now. A possible stable with him, Vladmir Kozlov and Daivari (who would have not left if he was still around in my opinion) would probably resemeble the old Team Canada or Hart Foundation type of stable where they mildly insult America to get some heat.

I also think that Hassan would have at the very least become a United States, Tag Team or Intercontinetal Champion by now too. He was almost to a main event role when he left but no one can really say what would have happened if he had stayed around then, he could have lost to Batista the following month like planned and then dropped back down to the mid card level for all we know. There is also a chance that he could have won the World title and became the new top heel on Smackdown and held a Sgt. Slaughter like title run where he trashed America only to end up losing a big time match up with someone like a Kurt Angle or returing Hulk Hogan.

In closing, my personal opinion is that Muhammad Hassan was an excellent character with a lot of untapped potential. He gave me one of my favorite Wrestlemania moments ever when he caused a suprise return of Hulk Hogan to save Eugene from the beating that Hassan and Daivari were giving him. Muhammad had the look, in ring ability and verbal talents of a sure fire star that needed just a little bit more time to explode into the wrestling atmosphere.

I am confident that Hassan would have enjoyed some success by now even if he had only been relegated to the mid card. I am also sure that Triple H would have beaten the man over 100 times by now in an average of only less than 5 minutes per match. I could see Hassan even turning babyface at one point to gain the trust of American fans only to do something dastardly to become a even bigger heel again with some major heat that would have translated into another title program with whoever the champion is at that time.

The bright side to this is that Mark Copani is still only 28 years of age and could still very well make a return at some point and reach his potential. But until then, we have no way of knowing just how good the man could have been. I hope you enjoyed the article and thanks for reading and "Stay Classy".

-RDLee- (Follow me at www.twitter.com/RDLee )