15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Muhammad Hassan
6. The Original WWE Push Plan He Was Told
Copani was pulled aside and told WWE's grand plans for him. According to writers, he was set to defeat company icon The Undertaker in a number one contendership situation. Following that, he'd then move on to wrestle Batista for the World Heavyweight Title. Everyone said that Vince McMahon’s end game was to have Hassan beat Batista in Washington, D.C for the title and lord it over the United States.
“Kinda like the big F-U to America”.
Things obviously didn’t turn out that way, so WWE must’ve changed their minds en route. It seems rising backlash from external groups worried about the way their Arab-American character was heading played a major role in that, but Marc thought he was destined to win big gold eventually regardless. After all, he'd been pushed to the moon as a hated heel since debuting, so why wouldn't WWE put a title on him?
WWE had enough faith in Copani to program him in top-billed segments sharing the stage with everyone from Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley to Steve Austin and 'Taker, so they were surely all in on finishing his character arc. Hassan was due to beat Undertaker at the Great American Bash '05 (another slap in the face to patriotic punters), then win out vs. Batista at SummerSlam in the nation's capital.
Instead, Muhammad was slapped about by 'Taker at the Bash then JBL took his spot opposite Batista in Washington. One regrettable angle on a July episode of SmackDown forced McMahon and WWE to change course overnight. They couldn't palm off the negative feedback any longer.
Hassan's big title win over 'The Animal' was promptly deleted from prospective booking sheets.