10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2005

3. Jumping To SmackDown Ended Muhammad Hassan

Muhammad Hassan will forever be known as one of the most controversial gimmicks in wrestling history. VICE even produced an entire 'Dark Side Of The Ring' documentary on the character, and it's worth seeing just to hear from the guy behind the guise. Marc Copani's wrestling career would never be the same again.

WWE upped the amount of controversy surrounding his persona almost immediately after he moved to SmackDown in the 2005 Draft. Hassan beat Big Show in his first match, then launched into a feud with The Undertaker. That led to an infamous angle on the 7 July episode which frankly changed everything. UPN were not happy with WWE after negative feedback amidst terror attack panic in London, England poured in.

Bruce Prichard has claimed that technological limitations meant nobody could edit the tapes in time for the US audience, but the angle was removed from select broadcasts elsewhere, including in the UK. On the US side, they did at least run a crawler warning fans about the content, but it was too late. Damage had been done.

Now, it's easy to see now that moving to SmackDown in June was effectively the end of the Hassan gimmick. He was written out at the Great American Bash pay-per-view on 24 July, but wouldn't have even been feuding with 'Taker had he not moved from Raw the previous month.

UPN made it clear that they didn't want to see Muhammad on screen again, or else. WWE had to comply, and Copani was the unfortunate collateral here. Management didn't even really bother trying to repackage Marc into something else before releasing him.