10 Shocking WWE Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened

7. The Original Plan For Muhammad Hassan

The anti-West gimmick of the Arab American Muhammad Hassan gained significant momentum in early 2005. To many it seemed as if Hassan was on track to follow in the footsteps of workers with similar gimmicks like The Iron Sheik and, to a certain extent, Bret Hart (who was an anti-American heel in 1997).

As a strong heel with clear in-ring talent, the WWE Creative Team had planned for Hassan to win the World Heavyweight Championship in the summer of 2005, and in doing so break the record for the youngest World Heavyweight Champion set by Randy Orton a year earlier.

However the tragic terrorist attacks in London on 7 July 2005 meant that these plans and indeed the whole Hassan gimmick had to be shelved. Rather than Hassan going on to defeat Batista for the World Title at SummerSlam (the original plan), the company were instead forced by negative media reaction to drop the Hassan character for good. Although unfortunate, it was entirely understandable.