15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Muhammad Hassan
7. Stephanie McMahon Trashed His “Pushback”
Anyone who has been tuning into her Stephanie's Places show on ESPN recently will know that Stephanie McMahon has a bubbly, fun-loving side. Poor Marc Copani didn't get to see that when Steph was in the pressure cooker of day to day WWE creative back in 2005. On 'Dark Side' he recalled pushing back against the company's decision to focus more on the idea that Muhammad Hassan was a terrorist rather than somebody sick of being called one.
McMahon was the head writer on SmackDown around that time, so Copani went to her and expressed his concerns with the creative direction. “She kinda put me in my place”, he said. Stephanie blasted Marc and said that this was a “huge opportunity” for him. So, he should ‘shut up - we know what we’re doing’. Afterwards, Copani wasn’t convinced at all.
However, despite seeing that things were starting to get out of hand, he doesn’t think the gimmick was “intentionally distasteful up until the end”. As Hassan, the guy just didn’t have the necessary backstage power or sway to fight what was happening creatively. He simply had to do as he was told, which is the fact Stephanie McMahon rather curtly reminded him of.
There was a nagging sense that things were only going to get worse. That'd prove to be the case, sadly. WWE shifted Hassan from somebody speaking out about terrorism and being blamed for something abhorrent to a character who glorified "sacrifice". It was a key shift he was never on board with, hence the concerned chat that didn't go well with Steph.