He then concluded with a controversial extension of hands and praise to Allah. He stopped praising Allah vocally due to complaints by Muslim-Americans, but still extended his hands during his ring entrance.
His speech followed by a Persian translation of his speech by Daivari. Hassan's gimmick also involved him interrupting promos by other wrestlers with his theme music and approaching the ring to cut promos of his own, typically complaining about being held back due to anti-Arab prejudice.
He and Daivari faced the two announcers in an in-ring debate on the January 3, episode of Raw. He then defeated Lawler in his debut match at the New Year's Revolution pay-per-view. In the course of his undefeated streak, Hassan defeated wrestlers such as The Hurricane, Sgt. Slaughter, Chris Benoit, and Chris Jericho. Hassan had attracted much heat as a heel, a fact which was evident at the Royal Rumble, in the Royal Rumble match itself.
Notably, Edge and Reigns were also heels at the time. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, , Hassan and Daivari were featured in a segment with Hulk Hogan that saw Hogan coming to the rescue of wrestler Eugene, who was being attacked by the two Middle Eastern performers. The next night on Raw , Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. Bischoff refused, but did tell Michaels to find a partner and he would grant a match. Michaels then made a plea for Hulk Hogan to come back and team with him.
On the April 18, episode of Raw , Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared to save Michaels and accept his offer. Hassan would blame and attack Daivari for the loss the next night on Raw. However, he and Daivari were beaten by Batista after the match. After Hassan initially appeared to pin Benjamin and won the title, the referee realized Benjamin was on the ropes and reversed his decision. Benjamin eventually pinned Daivari to retain the Intercontinental Championship..
After listening to Hassan's problems Steve Austin agrees with him and orders a match between Hassan and Shelton for the Intercontinental Championship and As Hassan was about to win the match with the help of Daivari, Austin enters the ring and Stuns both Hassan and Daivari in the ring to end the match. Hassan won the match by disqualification, allowing Shelton Benjamin to retain the title as it does not change hands on a disqualification result.
Bischoff took the opportunity to punish Cena by booking him against Hassan in a WWE Championship match, in which Hassan's losing streak in title matches continued as Cena dominated him in a two-minute squash match, pinning him cleanly and thus ending his "unpinned" streak.
On the June 23, episode of SmackDown! Hassan won his first SmackDown! The following week on June 30, Hassan was involved in a confrontation with The Undertaker.
Daivari was defeated, but Hassan began to "pray" on the ramp, summoning five masked men, dressed in black shirts, ski-masks, and camo pants. Armed with clubs and a piano wire, they beat and choked The Undertaker out, and Hassan put him in the camel clutch. Afterward, the masked men lifted Daivari above their heads and carried him away. Three days later, the London bombings took place.
It was removed from the Australian and European including in the United Kingdom broadcasts. In response to the criticism, UPN decided that it would monitor the storyline closely and that it did not want the Hassan character on its network that week. Hassan later delivered a promo to the live crowd for the July 14, airing episode of SmackDown!
Marc Julian Copani born April 16, is an American school principal and retired professional wrestler. His career came to an abrupt end when a controversial terrorist angle coincided with the 7 July London bombings, leading the television network UPN to pressure WWE to remove Copani's character from television. Following leaving WWE, he stopped wrestling, instead working as an educator. Copani returned to wrestling in at The Dynasty event King of Thrones.
He and Daivari faced the two announcers in an in-ring debate on the January 3, episode of Raw. He then defeated Lawler in his debut match at the New Year's Revolution pay-per-view event.
In the course of his undefeated streak, Hassan defeated wrestlers such as The Hurricane, Sgt. Slaughter, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Hassan had attracted much heat as a villain, a fact which was evident at the Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match itself. Notably, Edge and Reigns were also villains at the time.
On the June 23 episode of SmackDown! Hassan won his first SmackDown! The following week on June 30, Hassan was involved in a confrontation with The Undertaker.
Daivari was defeated, but Hassan began to "pray" on the ramp, summoning five masked men, dressed in black shirts, ski-masks, and camo pants. Armed with clubs and a piano wire, they beat and choked The Undertaker out, and Hassan put him in the camel clutch. Afterward, the masked men lifted Daivari above their heads and carried him away. Three days later, the London bombings took place. It was removed from the Australian and European including in the United Kingdom broadcasts.
In response to the criticism, UPN decided that it would monitor the storyline closely and that it did not want the Hassan character on its network that week. Hassan later delivered a promo to the live crowd for the July 14, airing episode of SmackDown! In the segment, Hassan reiterates that he is an Arab-American and that the American people automatically and unfairly assume that he is a terrorist.
Despite being in character, he referred to the real-world media coverage of the storyline, singling out the New York Post's Don Kaplan by name, and denouncing his description of the events on SmackDown! On the July 14, episode of SmackDown! Hassan lost the match to The Undertaker at The Great American Bash on July 24, , and was written off with The Undertaker doing a Last Ride through an open stage ramp onto a concrete floor where it was reported that he sustained serious injuries and had to be rushed to a nearby medical facility, apparently a solution aimed to end the Hassan character.
Several days later, WWE. Due to increasing public pressure, WWE was forced to later drop the character altogether, sending Copani and Daivari back to their developmental territories to alter their gimmicks.
This resulted in huge fan backlash, mostly because Hassan was at the height of his notoriety. Copani was released from his WWE contract on September 21, and announced his retirement from professional wrestling.
In subsequent years, it was revealed that Hassan had been planned to receive a major push, eventually winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Batista on August 21, at SummerSlam which would have made him the youngest world champion in WWE history, breaking Randy Orton's record.
Copani made his WWE television debut on Raw as Muhammad Hassan on December 13, in an in-ring segment with Mick Foley after wrestling dark matches and house shows for about two months. His introductory video and gimmick featured him and his manager, Iranian-American Khosrow Daivari, introducing themselves.
He then concluded with a controversial extension of hands and praise to Allah. He stopped praising Allah vocally due to complaints by Muslim-Americans, but still extended his hands during his ring entrance. His speech followed by a Persian translation of his speech by Daivari.
Hassan's gimmick also involved him interrupting promos by other wrestlers with his theme music and approaching the ring to cut promos of his own, typically complaining about being held back due to anti-Arab prejudice.
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