10 Wrestlers Plagued By Their On-Screen Self

While jingoism and the othering of foreign wrestlers are still used to evoke emotion in viewers, it lacks the same power as it did in the ‘80s and early ‘90s.

The introduction of Muhammad Hassan, while packing the potential to cause controversy, could have had nuance. Though Hassan was a heel, he was motivated by victimisation and racism in post-9/11 America. Unfortunately, the character soon devolved into an offensive caricature designed to capitalise on global anxieties.

Hassan's final act as a WWE wrestler sparked outrage.. After a match against The Undertaker, WWE had him use prayer to summon masked men who attacked with clubs and used piano wire to garrotte ‘The Phenom’. Hassan was carried away by his accomplices like a martyr.

Three days after taping, the 7/7 bombings occurred in London. The outrage was propelled into the mainstream forcing the company to write off the character, and Marc Copani with it. In the wake of his release, he retired from professional wrestling.

On The Chris Van Vliet Show, Copani discussed his 13-year break from wrestling, and brief return to the indies in 2018:

"I probably didn't get over wrestling until I got back in the ring a few years ago […] I had a blast and then I'm like I'm never doing this again. I just needed to do it. And that's when I started to get over wrestling and that's when I think I started to mend. It was a huge loss. It was a huge heartbreak […] it took me a long time.”

After making peace with wrestling, Copani found happiness and success as a high school principal.