All language subtitles for S06E10 Dark Side of the Ring

Introducing first,
Mark Magnus!

[Narrator]
In the early 2000s,

Marc Copani was a young
wrestler with a dream.

When I got the phone call
that I was gonna be on

the WWE, I knew it was
gonna be special.

You see, I'm the
future of wrestling.

But when they
pitched me the idea,

I was very nervous.

You're looking
at the great...

Muhammad Hassan!

[booing & cheering]

What? I said, "But he's
Italian, from Syracuse."

"Well, for us, he's gonna be
a Middle Easterner."

But Copani's path
to stardom

proved extremely
controversial,

as WWE cast him as a
shocking new villain.

We are three years
removed from 9/11.

And it's still
a fresh wound.

There was so much
discrimination going on,

so it was just
instant heat.

We're labeled terrorists!
Terrorists!

I'm a terrorist!

He was stoking
a lot of prejudices.

America does not wish
good will towards all men.

Muhammad Hassan and what
he was saying wasn't silly.

What he was
saying was right.

And, no one wants to
hear that they're wrong.

Those people wanted
to ----ing kill him.

But it takes on an
entirely different level

once the London
bombing occurs.

It's a series of
terrorist attacks

in the capital
this morning.

That's when things
started to go downhill.

It was a ride
straight to the top

that ended in
sudden disaster.

The character started to
become more radicalized.

And suddenly he had a crew
of terrorist henchmen.

Oh, my god!

That's what blew
everything up.

Choke him.

They underestimated
the amount of scrutiny

it was going to receive.

The network was saying,
"We're not gonna air

SmackDown if this character
is not written off."

Instead of this being a
footnote in his career,

it became the last chapter.

Everything that I had
worked for was just gone.

It was that quick.
The rise, the fall.

No, no, no, no!

And then the rebirth.

♪

♪

[crackling fireworks]

Following WWE's unparalleled
success in the late 1990s,

in the early 2000s,
the company struggles

to find its footing
in a new era.

The WWE was in a
transition period.

They had lost Stone Cold
Steve Austin

to injury and retirement.

They'd lost the
Rock to the movies.

And they were trying to find
their next major superstars.

Hello, Kentucky!

And welcome to
Ohio Valley Wrestling!

Ohio Valley Wrestling was a
local wrestling promotion

and training center here in
Louisville, Kentucky,

to serve as a developmental
or a training program

for aspiring
WWE wrestlers.

That's the trajectory that
Brock Lesnar had taken,

and John Cena,
and Randy Orton,

and Batista.

If you had the athletic
background, the size,

the personality, we could
show you how to be

a successful pro wrestler.

I'm Jim Cornette, and I was
one of the trainers of the

wrestler that would come to be
known as Muhammad Hassan.

[crowd chatter
& cheering]

When Marc Copani came in,
he's 21 years old.

He was in good shape.
He had good looks.

And you could see that he had
a great amount of potential.

Boy, this kid's come a
long way- Oh, ho, ho!

I was always athletic,
and I always played sports,

so wrestling kind of
combined all of that for me.

Feast your eyes
and fantasize on

this year's model,
Mark Magnus.

Mark's character was like,
smug, arrogant.

I'm better than you in every
category type of thing.

My name is Chris Mordetzky,
but you probably know me

better as Chris Masters,
The Masterpiece.

This guy is a work of art.

Mark was the OVW
champion at one point.

Obviously, the best.

Jim Cornette booked Mark,
and they were able to help

give him an opportunity
to get signed in WWE.

In two years, he had gone
from the lowest guy

on the totem pole...

No, wait a minute.
Yes!

...to a main event
wrestler in OVW.

[phone ringing]

And all of a sudden, I get a
call from the WWE office...

Saying they wanted
to make him an Arab.

And I'm...

I said, "But he's Italian,
from Syracuse.

How, how is this
gonna work?"

Jim Cornette told me what
they were looking for.

Didn't really know how
I felt about it at the time.

But, this was a
big opportunity,

and not many people
have a character

that's handed to ‘em.

So, there was
no doubt about it,

I was gonna do
the character.

My name's Marc Copani,
and in 2004 and 2005,

I played the character
Muhammad Hassan on WWE.

Marc was very
dark complected,

he has the dark hair.

He could look like
a stereotypical

Arab villain in a movie.

Oh, yeah, Jimmy,
it's gonna be that good.

So now Mark Magnus is
no more, and instead,

he is Muhammad Hassan.

Praise Allah.

When I told my family
that I was gonna be

an Arab American,
they definitely...

were trepidatious about the
fact that I was gonna be

portraying another
nationality, one,

in this country at the time
that was particularly

not trusted
and even hated.

-[chanting] USA! USA!
-Now wait a minute!

The crowd have
turned their backs...

That says it all.

...on these three
disreputable individuals!

The character of
Muhammad Hassan is

a direct response
to the horrific

and tragic events of just
a few years earlier.

We have a breaking news
story to tell you about.

Apparently a plane has
just crashed into the

World Trade Center here
in New York City.

I remember I was
walking home from class,

and I hear people talking,
and I'm not really

processing what
they're saying.

But I get home, and
I turn the TV on,

and I see the
devastation.

And then, it hit me,
this wasn't an accident,

this was an attack.

And at the time, no one
knew what was gonna happen.

It was very uncertain.

And I think one of the
things that wrestling

did for me is when
they went on the air.

Right after 9/11,
and the show must go on.

[chanting]
USA! USA!

We will not live
our lives in fear.

[cheering]

It was a defining moment that
wrestling could have such a

positive impact on me when
I was feeling so negative.

♪ [national anthem] ♪

When I was scared,
when I didn't know

what was gonna happen,

I put wrestling on
and for those few hours...

it didn't matter.

-We'll be back.
-[cheering]

The WWE was really rallying
behind this patriotism,

and that would embed the
country coming out of 9/11.

And, it inevitably was going
to seep into its programing.

Osama bin Laden,
the exiled terrorist,

is involved, if not
totally responsible for,

this coordinated attack.

Post September 11th,
there was

so much discrimination
going on.

You couldn't really escape
it in the United States

around that time.

A lot of people would think
terrorist automatically.

We have four basic emotions,
anger being one of them.

Transform that into
wrestling terms,

you want to open that wound
every time you possibly can.

My name's Maven Huffman.

I wrestled in the WWE
alongside Muhammad Hassan.

In 2004, 9/11 is still
fresh on the minds

of a lot of people.

Once we saw Muhammad
come out, we just were like,

"Ugh." [awkward laugh]
He's gonna get heat.

We will spread the
word of Allah

to all of you
despicable infidels.

The times we were in,

we didn't need an
arrogant Italian.

We needed someone
who could just

garner the
hatred of a fan.

Oh, wait a minute!
Hold on!

Along with the new
Muhammad Hassan

was gonna be
Shawn Daivari.

Shawn Daivari is an
independent wrestler

that came out of Chicago,
and was someone

that was assigned to be

the second to
Muhammad Hassan,

and was able
to speak Farsi.

[speaking Farsi]

They called me up:
"I'd like to offer you a job."

I met Mark Magnus,
who was Muhammad.

And like,
he told me that

they're gonna be
like two Arabs.

Praise...

Allah.

Before being introduced
to the WWE audience,

Copani and Daivari test out
their new characters in OVW.

And we started trying
things out at house shows.

And we didn't know
the direction

the character
was gonna take.

This was a
Vince McMahon idea.

And whenever Vince McMahon
had an idea,

you knew it was gonna
go farther than

almost anything else.

An illegal war is being
waged on an innocent people.

At one point, it was, you know,
very stereotypical, like,

we're gonna raise
the price of oil.

We were going out there just
trying different things to

see how much heat we could
generate from the crowd.

You are a traitor
to my country!

I grew up in the era
with the Hulk Hogan

and Ricky Steamboat
and Randy Savage.

It was these larger
than life characters.

Wrestling has always
skimmed the surface of

political events in
the modern world.

USA! Ha!
[spitting] Pft!

Iron Sheik and
Nikolai Volkoff were cartoony,

with the accents, and I don't
think Muhammad Hassan

was any different
when we started.

It wasn't until we started
filming the vignettes,

and that's when the
character took shape.

WWE decides to introduce
the character through

pre-recorded segments that
will air in anticipation of

his in-ring debut.

My name Is Muhammad Hassan.

Vignettes were a
critical part of

storytelling for WWE.

My name is Michael Leonardi.

I am a former writer
and producer for

World Wrestling
Entertainment.

It was our opportunity to
present to the world

this new character, and it
played a huge role because

it would really help them
get off to a great start.

Don't confuse me with
acts of terrorism...

here in America.

That's when it clicked for
both Shawn and I

that this wasn't a
foreign character.

This was a
American character

of Muslim or Arab descent.

9/11 changed everything
for me and my people.

Who, rightfully so,
is disgruntled.

For Arab Americans,
there is no equality.

And discouraged and angry

about what has been going on

with his family and his
community since 9/11.

But because we're
of Arab descent...

we are singled out.

These were really set up to
highlight situations in which

his character would
experience

biases or prejudice.

Muhammad Hassan is
presented in the light

that just because of
my nationality,

does not make me
a terrorist.

He was the antithesis of
all of the stereotypes.

But the day before
Hassan's first appearance,

controversy is stoked.

On an episode of
Sunday Night Heat,

you had your broadcasters,
Todd Grisham and Ivory,

teeing up
Muhammad Hassan's debut.

And right there, the fact
that we're gonna make

a flight joke, I think it
kind of sets the tone for

what the audience
can expect.

With expectations
riding high,

Marc Copani prepares to
make his entrance

as Muhammad Hassan.

I finally debuted
in Huntsville, Alabama

with Mick Foley.

[cheering]

I was nervous.

I felt like I was
gonna throw up.

I remember we were
really not 100% sure

how they're gonna
take this character.

It was very different.

Mick Foley is out there just
giving a riveting promo about

the war in Afghanistan
and supporting our troops.

Supporting the troops
goes way beyond

any kind of
political affiliation.

Now I come out.

[indistinct speaking]

♪ [Arabic music] ♪

♪

And as soon as
that music hits,

and as soon as you step
through that curtain,

it's just, it's go time
and it's business.

♪

What the hell is this?

And I interrupt Mick Foley,
and I am contradicting

everything he says
‘cause this is my truth.

It's people like us...

that are the real
victims of this war!

None of you people
are real patriots.

And instantly you are
telling the audience,

if there was any confusion
from these vignettes,

you are instructed to
hate Muhammad Hassan.

I am sick of hearing you
express your admiration for

these troops,
these gutless cowards.

Now you're
pissing me off!

Here was somebody very
clearly being presented

as a villain because he was
attacking Americans.

I don't think Vince McMahon

was trying to tell
a complex story.

Arab-American,
disgruntled,

anti-American,
"boo," heel.

He may even be justified
in what he is saying,

but he is anti-American.

And I feel...

your "patriotism"...

at every airport,
and especially right now!

It worked with the fans
because they really did not

like somebody coming out
and telling them

that America didn't
have all the answers.

When I came back
for the curtain,

I think a lot of people
were very impressed...

and I think a lot of people
were very excited about

the potential of
this character.

I knew right away they were
gonna push him for the moon.

He's got the look,
he's got the skill.

He's got the knowledge.

Hi, this is Gene Snitsky,

and I used to work with
Muhammad Hassan.

I can't remember anybody
getting that much heat

since the Iron Sheik.

The animosity of people.

Like, they literally wanted
to grab him and beat him.

It's crazy.
Over a wrestling character.

He just had that
aura about him

to where people just
didn't only hate him,

they wanted to kill.

To all the men and women
of the United States

Armed Forces now in
the Middle East...

the peace of a
troubled world

and the hopes of an
oppressed people...

now depend on you.

In 2004, our nation was
engulfed in a war

in the Middle East.

We're putting shows
on in Iraq.

The WWE has returned
to Iraq to celebrate

the holidays with each
and every one of you.

[cheering]

Patriotism is huge in
every aspect of our lives.

Add wrestling to it, it just
amps up the volume tenfold.

WWE has the balls to
come to Brassfield-Mora!

Woo!

So then when they heard this
guy who might look like

one of the terrorists going out,
basically saying,

"I had nothing to
do with 9/11"...

I'm portrayed
as the bad guy!

I don't deserve this.

You don't really care
what he's gonna say.

You people have no idea

what it's like to be me.

They booed because it was
showing a mirror to

the face of the
American public,

and the hypocrisy
and the prejudice.

America has literally
ganged up on me!

And our
Arab American brothers!

That had really been pushed
forward against the

Muslim people in this
country at the time,

and people don't like to
be shown their own flaws.

Deep down inside
your hearts,

every single one of you

is prejudiced.

Growing up, I was always
raised to not judge people

by the color of their skin.

My father told me
about some of

the struggles that
my grandfather had.

Being an Italian American,
it made me more aware

and sympathetic to
what Arab Americans

were feeling at the time.

These were people
who had lived here,

who had assimilated
to this country.

The same thing you see
with the Japanese in

World War Two, it was
completely unfair.

It's disgraceful, and so,
when 9/11 happened,

my concern was what's
gonna happen next,

and that kind of became my
catchphrase, "Since 9/11."

Since 9/11.
Since 9/11.

Since... 9/11.

I was the good guy
in my own story.

I was the hero.

I was the one fighting for
the injustice of my people.

But the irony of that is we
were still a heel team.

You know, Shawn would
distract the ref.

Shawn would
slip a bell in.

Right behind the
referee's back.

I know the business
side of things.

I knew if I wanted
to be there,

That's the card I had to play,
and it ----ing worked.

[speaking Farsi]

Though he reflects the
politics of the early 2000s,

the concept behind the
character goes back to the

earliest days of
pro wrestling.

There's such a history
of the foreign heel,

that you can go back
to Jack Adkisson

as Fritz Von Erich,

evil German heel.

Boy, a blitzer.

Karl von Hess,
who served in the US Navy,

that's suddenly
portraying a Nazi.

Von Hess wearing
a snarl.

One thing that was
easy to do is

tap into our tribalism
as humans.

Yeah!
[cheering]

It was a very easy, very kind
of low hanging fruit way to

create a character that
Americans could boo.

But the company is
playing with fire,

and as history shows,
not every attempt to bring

politics into wrestling is
enjoyed by the audience.

The last time that Vince
had tried to do something

like this, it backfired
spectacularly.

In 1991, the idea for
WrestleMania was

gonna be Hulk Hogan,
the American hero,

defending the WWF and
its championship from

Sergeant Slaughter,
the former G.I. Joe,

the former American hero

that had become an
Iraqi sympathizer.

Soon, Hulk Hogan,
it's gonna be your burial!

Vince McMahon believed

they would sell out
100,000 seats,

but a few weeks
before the event,

they had barely
sold 10,000 tickets.

It bombed.

[thunderous boom]

The problem was the Gulf War
was ongoing right

at that time, and the fans
didn't want to see it.

But in 2005, Copani and
WWE are committed to

making sure that this time
the storyline does work,

with the company insisting
he stay in character

at all times,
even in public.

We always had to maintain,
not only the look of

the character,
but really the personalities

of the character.

It got a little
shady sometimes.

He got to really experience

what it was like being

Arab-American in the
United States of America

in 2004 and 2005.

We experienced what a lot of
people were experiencing

in America at the time.

When we would travel,
Shawn always got stopped

because his last
name's Daivari,

which is a Persian name.

Copani never got stopped.

We were on an airplane,

and the look on people's
faces, the fear...

people in the back of the
plane that were calling their

families to tell them
that they love them

in case anything happens.

One time, we were in
San Francisco

when a young mother
with her child takes her

completely off the path
that had plenty of space...

to walk clear around us.

The way that people
looked at us,

you just always had this
uneasy feeling that there's

potential for something
dangerous to happen.

Once he saw what
Daivari went through,

once he saw just how people
were going to see him...

I think it changed him.

He was speaking from the
heart from those promos.

I'm just like each....

and every one of you.

I was born right here
in this country.

[booing]

It really made it easy
to feel the injustice,

because these people
didn't even know us,

and the way that they looked
at us and they judged us,

well, when we got
out into the ring,

that was how everyone
in America looked at us.

[chanting]
USA! USA!

There were a few times where

things could
have gotten real.

We were in Australia
with a bunch of the guys.

Gene Snitsky,
Chris Masters...

and a group of young men,
who were Arab

or Middle Eastern,
approached us.

They knew who we were,
and they knew the characters

we were portraying,
and they were very angry.

They were saying to us,
"You're not really Muslim,

are you?" Like, they
were ripping into us,

and it became a
heated exchange.

Made me realize that there
could be people that took

offense to these characters,
the fact that a non-Muslim

was portraying that character.

I remember really
thinking to myself,

if something happens,
we are so outnumbered

here that it's either gonna
take like hitting somebody

with a chair for real or
like smashing a glass

over somebody-
like I'm thinking

it's gonna get like rough.

It de-escalated quickly

because I'm surrounded
by 6'10" giants.

The irony is that
those guys were right.

In our minds, we're
playing these characters,

we're generating heat,
we're finding success.

But it was one of the
first times I had

second thoughts about,
is this just a character?

And that's when it
became too real,

and that's when the lines
between wrestling and

reality, ah,
no longer existed.

[chanting continues]
You suck! You suck!

Tonight I will have
the satisfaction

of beating Shawn Michaels!

As Muhammad Hassan rises
to the top of the card,

Mark's sudden success
doesn't sit well with the

other wrestlers in
the locker room.

That era of wrestling was
definitely a tough era

to be a new guy.
There was a close,

tight knit group of
veterans, and...

I remember walking in

and there's just
locker room etiquette.

You have to shake
everybody's hand.

And, I was 24 years old,
very green, and...

I really didn't know
how to behave.

Getting that
push to the moon,

it was always a
bunch of the guys

that felt like you were
stealing their spot.

You've had guys who
have been on the roster,

who have been working
their tails off for years,

and they're not
getting pushed.

There was a lot of
jealousy and resentment.

Backslide!

They would weed
out guys, like,

if they found a
weakness in you,

they'd poke at it
and poke at it

until you either quit
or broke down.

They wanted to test you.

Unless you've paid your dues,
you're going to have heat.

You do not want heat.

Muhammed Hassan
found this out.

Ooh! [laughing]
[indistinct commentary]

Marc's finishing maneuver
was a move called the

"Camel Clutch," a move
that the Iron Sheik

made famous in the 80s.

I've never seen anyone
get out of this hold.

It made sense for Marc to
utilize it 20 years later.

Oh!

Muhammad Hassan with
the Camel Clutch!

I remember,
we're in Japan...

It's our final night
in Japan!

And, Kurt Angle, who I
admired and respected,

made a comment
that Eddie Guerrero

is using the Camel Clutch.
Well, that's my finisher.

And he was saying, you know,
"It's bad for the business

that two guys on the same
show are using the same move,

and it's your finisher.
It looks weak

when Eddie puts it on and
someone gets out of it."

It's like, "You should
say something."

If you use a guy's move
in wrestling without their

permission, it's worse than
if you date their wives.

So of course, this is one of
those moments

where I should have
kept my mouth shut.

But I went up to Eddie,
and I said,

"Should you be using
the Camel Clutch?

Because I'm using it as a
finisher," and he looked

at me and he kind of
smiled, he's like,

"I've always used the
Camel Clutch."

He's like, "My father
invented it."

[laughing] I was like,
of course he did.

So of course the boys
get a hold of this,

and it turns into
nuclear heat.

It's disrespectful,
and how dare I?

I mean, I was mortified,
and I just really felt like

I made a mistake that I'm
not gonna come back from.

I remember calling
my father,

and I'm just like, I just
want to fly home.

He was like,
you're gonna go out there

and you're
gonna face this.

And so, I had to go
to wrestling court.

Wrestler's court is kind of
a reason to put somebody

on blast and kind of shame
them in front of everybody.

Undertaker's the judge,
jury and executioner.

I mean, it sounds like
kind of ridiculous,

but you never want
your whole roster

kind of coming
down on you.

My consequence for
that was buying over

$1,000 worth of drinks.

There were certain wrestlers
that were pouring the drinks

on the floor after
I bought 'em...

pouring high quality alcohol
in Japan on the floor

seems pretty stupid,
looking back on it now.

But after that,
Eddie Guerrero came up to me

and very kindly put his hand
on my shoulder, and said,

"I know you didn't mean
anything by it."

And he gave me a hug
and we moved on.

As Muhammad Hassan's
notoriety grows,

Copani lands his
biggest opportunity yet,

sharing the ring with
wrestling's most iconic star.

My character was upset that

he wasn't given a match
at WrestleMania.

And still I am excluded

from the biggest show
of the year!

And I remembered finding
out that we were gonna

do something
with Hulk Hogan.

The red,
white and blue!

And it was a dream
come true moment,

and I probably called
everybody I'd ever met

in my entire life
to tell them,

"I'm gonna be
at WrestleMania

in the ring with
Hulk Hogan."

WrestleMania.

That's like playing baseball
against Babe Ruth.

Like, who gets to freakin'
wrestle Hogan at WrestleMania?

Oh, my god!
Ha-ha!

It's Hulk Hogan!

Standing in the center of
that ring with Daivari

when his music hit,
and just watching him

work his way down
towards the ring...

you could just feel the
noise from the crowd

of like lifting you
off of the mat.

I had never experienced
anything like it.

Look at this!
And the Hulkster!

[indistinct commentary]

Imagine being a kid
who loves wrestling.

Your dream is to
become a wrestler.

Yeah! Oh, baby!

And then you find yourself,

not only working with
Hulk Hogan...

but working with Hulk Hogan
at WrestleMania.

That's a dream.

This crowd is
going crazy!

Until it becomes
a nightmare.

With Hassan established
as a top name,

management decides to
take the character

in a shocking new direction.

With every character,

you know there's gonna
be evolution.

You don't want your
character to be stuck in

the mud because eventually
gimmicks run their course.

You got that stupid towel.

Your stupid gimmick beard.

I think you're a
piece of garbage.

Vince and the team
decided to

lean towards more of this

stereotypical way and
become more radicalized.

Let's take this
a step further.

These people think
he's a terrorist.

Let's make him that.

You're looking
at the new icon,

the great
Muhammad Hassan!

As the months wore on,
we started doing things

that were much more
focused on Islam,

as opposed to
Middle Eastern heritage.

You will be a sacrifice.

And then I feel like that
character became insensitive,

and it was a complete
departure from

what we had originally
set out to do.

Whoa whoa whoa,
wait a minute, look at this.

Wow, what the hell?

Now I have a bunch of men who
are carrying out my bidding.

I really pushed back, and I
did take that to

Stephanie McMahon,
who was really the writer

that I was working with
most on SmackDown,

and she kind of put me
in my place.

It was, "This is a huge
opportunity for you."

Basically, "Shut up.
We know what we're doing."

Choke him.

What is that?
Oh, no.

[chanting]
USA! USA!

Looking back, can I see
that it was insensitive?

It definitely
became insensitive.

The character changed over
the course of a few months,

but I don't ever feel like
what we did was

intentionally distasteful,
up until the end.

Where things started
to go wrong was,

as he started to gain
momentum and this character

started becoming part
of the main event scene,

they wanted to try and
generate more heat.

Despite Marc's objections to
the changes to his character,

he knows he has little
power to fight it.

I don't know of anybody
that's ever said no to

a storyline, of any kind,
‘cause like,

when you get the
opportunity,

you're not gonna
pass it up.

And that very much
was the culture,

and everybody there was like,
"Who is this guy to

refuse any of
the storyline?"

The change in the character

really took a toll on me.

And I didn't agree with it,
and I think I was

pretty vocal about,
I didn't like the

direction of
the character.

There came to a point
with Shawn Michaels...

before I put him in
the camel clutch...

I took my thumb...

And...

♪

Undertaker does
the same thing,

but the context
in which I did it,

it symbolized a beheading,
which was a horrific and

tragic thing that was
happening in the

Middle East with
American citizens.

[booing]

To be honest with you,
at the time...

it seemed only natural.

I never saw how his
character developed,

and thought, wow,
they should not go here,

at the time.
Never once.

To me, it was like, oh yeah,
that makes sense.

He's gonna get so
much heat for this.

I don't really know exactly

whose decision
it was to do that.

I know it wasn't mine.

I think one of the reasons
why the character started to

change is because they were
working up to a program

with Batista and
The Undertaker,

who are not only
two giant men,

but they're also two
giant personas

and characters
in the WWE.

At some point, they were
planning on putting

one of the World
Championships on him.

Vince was gonna
push him to the moon.

The day of the dead man

has come and gone-

-[bell chiming]
-Oh, look.

-[cheering]
-Oh, my, oh!

The angle that we were
working with The Undertaker

was gonna build to a number
one contender's match.

And so, I was told
that the idea was

that I would beat
The Undertaker.

I would be the number one
contender to face Batista...

and it would be the
Arab defeating the

reigning champion, Batista,
in Washington, DC.

Kind of like the
big "FU" to America.

That was the plan
that was ran by me.

Obviously, it didn't
turn out that way.

It was Daivari versus
The Undertaker.

Shawn got the crap
kicked out of him.

Tombstone pile driver!

Talk about a sacrifice.

On the day the episode
is set to broadcast,

real world
tragedy strikes.

People streaming out of the
station covered in blood.

This was a highly
sophisticated,

coordinated
terrorist attack.

The London terrorist bombing
that occurred on July 7th

that led to many,
many casualties

broke on a Thursday morning.

So you have a worldwide focus
on this terrorist attack.

And SmackDown was set
to air later that night

with this very
controversial angle.

So, in the
immediate aftermath,

WWE decides it's
going to run as is,

and they were gonna add a
crawl throughout the show,

essentially giving a
warning to the audience.

I think they underestimated
the amount of scrutiny

it was going to receive.

The realism and the
imagery all got tied into

what had happened
in London.

It was Daivari versus
The Undertaker,

and so Shawn
sacrificed himself,

and I had just this
evil look on my face,

and I dropped
to my knees...

and I raise my hands
and say,

"Praise Allah,"
and suddenly,

men come storming out
from behind me.

Hit the ring.

I do this, the
beheading symbol...

Choke him.
Choke him!

Oh, my god,
is that a steel wire?

I don't know
what it is.

And then I come up, I get
over The Undertaker...

Praise Allah!

[booing]

And then I choke him out
in a Camel Clutch.

His eyes rolled back in
the back of his head.

And now you started really
walking that line of

just like, is this
guy a terrorist,

at the end of the day?

Terrorists behead people!

And they had done it to a
journalist, Daniel Pearl,

a couple years earlier.

Also, one year prior,
this American, Nick Berg,

had been kidnaped and then
was beheaded on camera

by five masked men,
the same number

that WWE incorporated
for this angle.

The masked men, they were
almost like my soldiers,

and I was the leader of this
Islamic fundamentalist cult.

And then Shawn ended up
becoming our martyr.

Look at this,
they're holding him up

for sacrifice like he's a
martyr or something.

He's given what had been
recognized as a

Islamic martyr's funeral,
in a sense that the

men in masks are
carrying him overhead,

sacrificing his
life for me.

That was really the scene
that started that controversy.

It was across the line.

This was really happening
at that moment,

to Americans and
American allies,

and people didn't want to
see that kind of shit

on the wrestling
program.

♪

And so this set off a
firestorm of backlash.

UPN wanted nothing to
do with this character,

in light of the controversy.

We had heat with sponsors,
with Arab groups.

Everybody just said
enough's enough.

And it was framed in how
insensitive the WWE is

using real life, tragic
situations to sell a story.

I didn't agree with what
we were doing at that time.

I felt like we needed
to scale back.

In this particular instance,
I told my boss that

I think this was the
wrong way to go.

and I didn't want to have
anything to do with it.

I was demoted, I was
stripped of almost

all my responsibilities,
all because I spoke up

and said that I think
this was wrong.

As an American,
I thought it was wrong.

And then, what happened
was pressure started to

come down from
the network,

and eventually UPN put
enough pressure on WWE,

and they realized
that they needed to

kill the character
altogether.

This could indeed be

Muhammad Hassan's
last match.

With the media and
fans in an uproar,

Muhammad Hassan draws the
wrong kind of attention.

The network was really
worried about it and they

said ----ing take these
characters off of SmackDown.

I think with the sponsors
and the threats

that they had made,

it slowly deteriorated
into something that I had

realized was probably
gonna ed my career.

Chef Boyardee doesn't
want to air an ad

right after you
martyr a wrestler.

If there was no
London bombing,

the direction we
were headed,

it would have
become tasteless.

Muhammad Hassan went from
this real life portrayal of

an upset American...

Judge me for me.

...to now relying more on
his Islamic background

to get heat.

I assure you that that
sacrifice will not go without

its reward, but is sacrifice
for the greater good.

I thought it was ironic that
now we're stereotyping

Middle Easterners, when we
started off the character

as being against
that stereotype and

trying really hard to make
Muhammad Hassan

a real character,
someone who was

born here,
went to school here,

has a family here.

I, for one, will
not embrace...

a racist nation.

Right around that time,
I wanted to buy a house.

And so, I walk into a
room off of catering,

and it's just me,
and there's Johnny Ace,

the head of talent
relations at the time.

And I remember going and
saying, "Johnny," you know,

"I'm just about to put an
offer in on a house back home.

What's gonna happen?"

And he looked me
dead in the eye,

and he said,
"Don't buy the house."

And, that's when I knew
that we're not

gonna be fighting
this thing.

We were done.

With sponsors
and the network

pressuring the company
to drop the character,

Muhammad Hassan's
fate is sealed.

We weren't allowed
to be on TV.

We weren't allowed to
be on SmackDown or Raw.

The only thing we were
allowed to do

was a Pay Per View.

[cheering]

My family was sitting in
the front row in

Buffalo, New York,
where I went to school,

where I first got the bug
to want to be a wrestler.

Everything kind of
came full circle.

And that was the last time
I was gonna

be in a WWE ring.

♪

I mean, if anybody
was gonna take me out,

having it be The Undertaker
was an honor.

[bell chiming]

[cheering]

My character was...

beat brutally.

And another big boot
by the Undertaker!

And then I was power
-bombed through the stage.

Walked into the hand
of the Undertaker!

This move called
The Last Ride,

and he launches me.

And when he drops me,
I'm coming down

at a much steeper angle
than I anticipated.

Stop this!
Oh, no, no, no, no, no!

Hit so hard on that single
crash pad on my neck,

that I flipped over and
landed clean on my feet,

like an acrobat.
So they put me down.

They cover me with
cable wires, put blood out.

I don't know how often
that's happened

where a character
has been murdered

on national television,
brutally.

And with that,
Muhammad Hassan

was never seen again.

[snaps]

That was it and,
you know,

the weird thing
about that was...

typically, after a show,
you go back to the hotel.

I was in Buffalo,
and I was home...

so I got in my car and
when the show was over,

I drove home,
and it was...

I couldn't even begin to
tell you the thoughts

that I was feeling.

I don't know if
it was relief...

sadness...

disappointment.

♪

I definitely was...

heartbroken by
what had happened,

and heartbroken that
everything that I had spent

so much time and energy,
and, and dreamed, and-

everything that I had
worked for was just gone.

It made no sense.
He did what he was told

because he was
being paid money,

and he had a dream job
that he wanted to fulfill.

And what they told him
to do backfired.

They threw the baby and the
bath water out the window

and continued on, rather than
tell Vince McMahon,

"You ----ed this guy up,

you ought to make it
up to him."

He did everything
he was told.

He was great at his job,
and they let him go for it.

The end of my career with
the WWE launched me

to a few years of
my life where...

I had no direction,
and I was lost,

and I didn't know
what I was gonna do,

and I knew I would never
get back what I had...

and I couldn't,
I couldn't rationalize it,

and I couldn't
find reason for it.

I do feel like wrestling
turned its back on me,

and I definitely turned
my back on wrestling,

and I didn't want
to look back at all.

I needed to change and I
didn't really know how.

Fired from WWE and
living in Los Angeles,

Marc Copani steps away from
the world of wrestling.

I was pretty secluded in LA.

In the moment,
it was survival mode.

It was living day by day.

It was a level of depression

that I didn't recognize
at the time.

I don't want to
say hopelessness,

but just being lost...

and nothing was
really going my way.

Depressed, upset.
Frustrated.

You're on top of
the world one week.

The next week,
you're without a job.

Once that tide of momentum
turns against you,

it's kind of hard to get
it to swing the other way.

The character came in so hot,
and had so much attention

that nobody thought it was
gonna be believable

to bring me back
as anybody else.

It's always like that
one thing that sticks

in people's mind,
you know.

"Oh, that's the
terrorist guy."

Sadly. Just a waste
of a talent, really,

because he had so
much potential

to be like
that big star.

One of the defining moments
for me with that is I...

had come home
for the holidays,

just a bit of a wreck.

You know, I was
running low on money.

I remember
being exhausted,

and just saying
to myself, like...

you need to get
some sleep. And...

and then the thought
occurred to me...

What if you
don't wake up?

What difference
would it make?

Like, what difference
do you make?

How many days
have you wasted?

How many days
have you wasted?

And...

kind of just confronted with
the reality of where I was,

not where I
wanted to be.

And that was the moment
that I decided I needed to

make a radical
change in my life.

And it was a few months later
that I was going to college,

working nights at UPS.

And it was very humbling.

And I found that fire,
that work ethic,

that dedication,
that passion.

And I focused it in
another direction.

I got my teaching
certification,

and I got my
master's degree.

I got a job teaching.
Then I became a principal.

I didn't stop, and I
haven't stopped since.

So I don't waste
days anymore.

♪

It wasn't until later that I
realized I was avoiding

the pain and the heartbreak
that I had felt

because of what
had happened.

With Muhammad Hassan
behind him,

Marc has had years to reflect
on the experience of being

one of wrestling's most
controversial villains.

It probably wasn't until
almost a decade later

that I really started to
appreciate the journey

that I had had and the
career that I had had,

regardless of how it ended,
and then at that point,

it didn't matter
how it ended.

It's always easy
to say, what if?

I think Muhammad Hassan's
outcome was set in stone

from his very first promo.

This is no longer
the land of the free.

And it has nothing to do
with talent, skill,

ability, appearance.

It has to do with the
culture we lived in.

I feel bad for Marc because
the man was talented,

the man was good.
The man was gifted.

I will fulfill my destiny

as the first Arab American

to be champion!

I made the decisions
to play that character,

and I've had to
live with it, and so

I don't have any
ill feelings about it.

I don't hold grudges.

It's just the fact that
I got to experience that,

and I got to live that.

And I had dreamed it
for so long...

to make that
dream a reality,

this is something that
I am very proud of.

[match bell]

Either way, that character
was not long for TV.

The world was
changing around us,

and eventually the world
looked like it does today,

where that type
of stereotypical,

insensitive portrayal of any
nationality in this country

is frowned upon now,
and it should be.

♪

Shawn is an agent
in the WWE now.

Shawn has a great
mind for wrestling,

and he just gets the
storytelling aspect

of wrestling. I talk to
Shawn all the time,

and he's doing
very well

and I couldn't be
prouder of him.

To be honest, it worked out
better for Marc because

in the intervening
20 years,

he's had a normal job
in a normal place.

He's highly thought
of in the community.

He's probably been better
off in the long run

than all the crazy shit
he would have gone through

in 20 years in the
wrestling business.

So, I'm happy for him.

If I could go back
and do it all again,

I absolutely
would do it.

I'm the man I am today

because of those
experiences.

Muhammad Hassan didn't
define who I am.

That character stays
in 2004, 2005.

Everything that's
happened since is me.

Now, I'm the Director of
Human Resources

in a small city
school district.

And, I impact over
3000 kids every day.

And the only way I had gotten
to this point is because of

the epic failure
that I had had,

and that realization
that it doesn't matter

what your dreams were,

it doesn't matter
how it ended,

you always have
a second chance.

I don't think my best
days are behind me.

I think that they're
in front of me.

I'm still looking forward
to doing some big things.

♪