Former WWE star Marc Copani, also known as Muhammad Hassan, discussed his character’s 2005 demise in an interview with Chris Van Vliet. This came after backlash over an angle in which his group of masked men attacked The Undertaker on SmackDown.
“Someone had said, too controversial for WWE, which I kind of liked because that is a distinguishment right there. Yeah, it was definitely a controversial character and I feel like I played it pretty well. I was talking about this last night, it was very hard to get into character with Shawn [Daivari] because everywhere we went, we kind of faced that. I mean, it was still pretty fresh after 9/11. We went to the airport and Shawn would always be randomly checked at every single airport. It’d be very annoying because then we’d have to run to our flight. So I kind of use that as my anger, obviously, more things than that. But it was very easy to fall into that character and be able to speak the truth about what I saw, because that was what was happening back then. And again, that character would never fly today. You know, it kind of had to stay in its time and I think it’s kind of cool for me doing something completely different that that character still stays as controversial.”
Copani said the following about the situation:
“It took me a while to really figure it out. I think I was a little depressed. I was definitely heartbroken; you know turned off. The constant traveling and the spotlight, it was fun while it lasted but it wasn’t for me. It took me a while to figure out that I just didn’t want to get back in there because it really was a huge heartbreaking moment for me.
You work so hard, you spend so much time just training, preparing and then it’s all taken away kind of for no reason. Like I didn’t do anything, I didn’t bomb any place. And I understand why the character was taken off TV, it absolutely had to be but I think that was the heartbreak for me. I was just out there doing the best that I could and the rug was pulled out from under me.”
Copani pursued a career in education after leaving wrestling.
You can check out the complete interview below:
