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Muhammad Hassan


BritFan

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Although WWE had constant pressure from powerful outside sources (UPN for example), to keep Muhammad Hassan off television altogether; if this wasn't the case and Hassan was allowed to continue his career, what would have happened?

 

I thought Hassan made an incredible heel for the brief period of time he was there. WWE were touching on a subject that the media and the world was somewhat "naive" to and it worked. It's a shame that his career was cut short, I would have loved to have seen how his character would have developed.

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I remember when they first started airing his vignettes and me and my brother looked at each other as if to say, "Yep. This is going to be trouble."

 

His vignettes and promos were the most interesting part of Hassan, for me. I really didn't give a shit once he got in the ring. He was eloquent, well spoken and, bizarrely considering this was the WWE, he was actually allowed to make some really good points. Even more bizarre was the fact that I thought him and Daivari destroyed Lawler and JR in that debate:-

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1yWmo2Or4E

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp7-N89rG24...feature=related

 

It was all really peculiar but I enjoyed up to when he got in the ring, because he never really grabbed me once he wrestled. I thought it was basically a really interesting failure at the very least, and I'm not sure how much further they could have taken him after the Undertaker feud.

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I always thouht he could easily have been turned into the next Austin once the gimmick was dropped. He simply had to come out with a promo like WWE forced him to do if he wanted to work there and he was refusing to do it anymore. Ok so it wouldnt have been quite on the Austin level but the anti authority babyface role wouldve been filled & once you have someone being unfairly held down by the boss its easy to get behind them.

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I've heard it all now! Thank God you corrected yourself on that next Austin line. Hassan got heel heat yes no denying that, but he was a terrorist character in post 9/11 USA. Of course he's going to get heel heat. If I played that character there and then, I'd get heat as well. I personally thought he was bland in his matches and since he didn't see a future in wrestling and WWE obviously couldn't see him doing anything else - they got rid. No great loss IMO. I certainly dont think he would have amounted to anything special.

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I really think he was a missed opportunity. As a character, he was brilliant, but it sort of feels they brought him up to the main roster before he was fully ready in the ring.

 

Even given that, he seemed a cert as a main event heel long-term. He was genuinely dislikeable but has that important heel characteristic that in his eyes he was in the right. All the best heels are the ones that are the heroes in their own mind.

 

I gather he was a bit of a twat backstage, and considering he's never wrestled since leaving I suspect his heart wasn't in it. But he's definitely on my list of "Should have been huge" along with Ahmed Johnson.

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I think he could've transisted to face, but not as a Austin style anti authority, but anti media.

 

He cut a promo to the live crowd (when he was kicked off UPN), where he basically blasted the media saying "This is what I've been saying all along! You look at me and think because of my ethnicity that I'm a terrorist." May have thrown the line in "I'm not the racist, you are!". Was probably one of my favourite promos ever andgot a bit of a face reaction.

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LaGoosh is right, it was doomed from the start. Because all wrestling fans besides me are racist hillybilly bigots. The premise of the character was "leave me alone, not all muslims are terrorists" playing to crowd responses of "yes they are, dirty bastards. And they smell funny." Like in the debate Gladstone posted, Hassan was in the right, yet it's a genre where shite like "love it or leave it" will trump any reasoned discourse. It was only ever going to end in "yeah I am a terrorist really lol" and that wouldn't have had a shelf life even if UPN hadn't stepped in.

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Everyone knows the next Austin could and should have been Rory MacAllister.

 

As for Hassan, I loved him. I wish they'd managed to sneak a title win on him before he got booted off the air. I remember one promo he had on Heat discussing a news story about him which was decent. The Rumble spot was cool too when the SmackDown v Raw battle was cut short coz they all hated the dirty foreigner.

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