How Wrestling Has Changed Since 9/11

This distasteful gimmick started as an Arab-American sick of the alleged prejudiced treatment that people of his ethnicity had suffered since the 9/11 attacks. Paired with Khosrow Daivari, Muhammad Hassan courted controversy from day one, extending hands to Allah in his very first vignette, suggesting that WWE's heavy-handed treatment of a touchy subject had created a character that was doomed to fail.

Perhaps a character like this could have prospered with a sharper, more thoughtful writing team. Not WWE's, though. With Hassan, they created a vile, jingoistic mess that stands amongst the most offensive gimmicks in company history, and it reached a nadir in July 2005.

Daivari had just lost a match to The Undertaker on an episode of SmackDown. Out ran five black-clad men in ski masks with clubs and piano wire, who helped Hassan batter 'Taker after the match, then let him put 'The Phenom' in his Camel Clutch. Anyone watching knew exactly what these people were supposed to be.

56 people were killed in the London bombings just three days later. The backlash towards the Hassan character was amplified tenfold, and he was removed from TV by August.