50 Absolute Worst Things WWE Has Done In The 21st Century

The grim controversies of WWE keep on coming with the curious career of Muhammad Hassan.

That might be putting it mildly. Hassan was a deliberately polarising kind of character who existed exclusively to feed off rising tensions towards Muslims (and indeed Arab-Americans living in the United States) following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Muhammad debuted onscreen in late-2004, and his promos were laced with race-baiting and claims of prejudice because of his background.

WWE knew they were already pushing some sensitive buttons with the gimmick to begin with, but then a shocking real world incident changed everything. The London bombings on 7 July 2005 left everyone stunned and terrified. On 4 July, WWE taped an angle that saw several hooded men choke out then carry The Undertaker away. That didn't air on television until 7 July.

'Oh dear' wouldn't begin to cover the enormity of this.

WWE managed to remove this segment from the UK and European broadcasts, but it aired on UPN in the States and on The Score in Canada. Several messages flashed up onscreen warning fans that they might find some of the show unsettling or offensive. This angle really should've been cut from the show worldwide once news of the bombings started to spread.

Bruce Prichard would go on to claim that WWE and UPN didn't have time to make necessary adjustments. Nobody's trying to pint a direct finger of blame in one direction here, but something had to be done. Mainstream media blew up about SmackDown's content, and then Hassan vanished from WWE programming following The Great American Bash on 24 July.

Essentially, through no fault of his own, Hassan's career was stolen from him.