15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Muhammad Hassan

15. Jim Cornette’s Reaction To WWE’s Repackage Job

Say what you will about Jim Cornette (and people do!), but he did a sparkling job of running old WWE developmental talent factory OVW. Whilst there, Jim helped nurture and produce the likes of Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista and many, many more. Between 2002-2004, Marc Copani was one of his brightest prospects for attaining main roster success.

Cornette had booked Copani solidly for around two years as vain villain Mark Magnus. He became OVW Heavyweight Champion, and Jim knew it was only a matter of time before WWE called the guy up to their main roster. However, what Cornette didn't expect was that Vince McMahon would fancy a complete repackage job.

His reaction to that phone call coming in is priceless on the show: “All of a sudden I get a call from the WWE office…saying they wanted to make him an Arab. I said, but he’s an Italian from Syracuse!”. Copani had been an arrogant heel along the lines of ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude in OVW, so this was a complete 180 turn to say the least. It clearly caught Jim totally by surprise, because he likely figured WWE bosses would want more of the self-obsessed heel stuff.

Not quite.

There's a brilliant moment during 'Dark Side' when Cornette's face drops and he stares right into the camera. The developmental booker knew he couldn't protect his OVW roster from anything that happened to them in the major leagues, but he had to be really worried for Copani if this was the sort of thing McMahon had in mind for him.