10 WWE Wrestlers Whose Patriotism Limited Their Potential
1. Muhammad Hassan
The term "dropping the ball" in WWE tends to be the most synonymous with Muhammad Hassan. His rise to super stardom was an epic flop, and worse yet, it was nothing he did that caused him to fall out of favor with officials; it was entirely the company's fault.
As an Arab-American (only in storyline and not in reality) playing the racism card in WWE, Hassan quickly ascended the ranks and became one of the most hated heels in the entire company. Even without the money-making moniker, he would have been just fine seeing as how he was competent in the ring and his mic skills were sensational.
Sadly, WWE took the gimmick farther than they should have when they had men sporting ski masks violently attack The Undertaker on an episode of SmackDown in July 2005, the same week as the tragic London bombings. Needless to say, it was met with plenty of criticism and disgust from the mainstream media, forcing WWE to pull the plug on the Hassan character and take him off TV all together.
Instead of shipping him back to Raw or repackaging him, they released from his contract a few short months later, leaving fans to question what could have been had he not been given a gimmick that was bound to backfire eventually.