Ahmed Johnson...

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

I was an Ahmed fan to and I still think he was very over after he came back from injury. But, I think what killed his overness was joining the NOD out of nowhere while he was still feuding with them.

 

And the thing is they never really explained why Ahmed joined them. I do remember JR saying something like Ahmed joined them because of his past as a youth he was in gangs. But, even then it was half-assed explained.

[Black Lushus 0]

i think it was the "can't beat em, join em" philosophy...

[strummer 0]

I always got the sense that Ahmed wanted no part of playing a heel. I wonder if that is why he was turned back face so quickly? I had heard Ron Simmons made a powerplay to have the NOD turn on Ahmed, because he thought AJ was stealing his heat. Any of this true?

[Guest Your Olympic Hero]

Supposedly he was fired for refusing to job to Kurrgan in a squash.

I don't blame him.

 

I'd say right now that's the equivalent of a Batista being squashed by a Mordecai.

[Papacita 0]

I was an Ahmed fan to and I still think he was very over after he came back from injury. But, I think what killed his overness was joining the NOD out of nowhere while he was still feuding with them.

 

And the thing is they never really explained why Ahmed joined them. I do remember JR saying something like Ahmed joined them because of his past as a youth he was in gangs. But, even then it was half-assed explained.

They built to it quite well, actually. IIRC, Faarooq beat Ahmed for the #1 contendership due to some kinda botched interference from the Undertaker (Taker irish whipped one of the Nation members into Ahmed, knocking him into the steel stairs and causing him to lose). Then, to build to the KOTR match against Taker, Faarooq "played the race card" asking why there had never been a black World Champ. They then did an interview with Ahmed, and he said he hated Faarooq, but he was right about black wrestlers never receiving opportunities in WWF. They had also been alluding to it in WWF Magazine, so when it went down, it wasn't really all that surprising.

 

Edit: I forgot about Ahmed giving Taker the Pearl River Plunge at KOTR because Taker kept on chokeslamming Faarooq. If you put all the pieces together, it all made sense in the end.

 

Also, I don't think it was so much the turn that hurt him, because for the first couple of shows afterwards, he got MAD heel heat. What happened was the first Raw after the turn, he blew his knee out in a brawl with DOA and had to sit out for a couple of months. His first match back, the Nation turned on him, basically killing his heat. To make things worse, he had to sit out another month to heel his knee, and made his return in September against the Rock in MSG...where he ended up slicing a nerve in his hand on one of the new commentary tables. I swear, I've never seen a man that injury prone.

[Crimson G 0]

I swear, I've never seen a man that injury prone.

I thought this was a topic about Ahmed Johnson, not Kevin Nash.

[algrim 0]

Don't forget Goldberg.

[Papacita 0]

Ahmed was much worse than both.

[cawthon777 0]

And the thing is they never really explained why Ahmed joined them. I do remember JR saying something like Ahmed joined them because of his past as a youth he was in gangs. But, even then it was half-assed explained.

True, they didn't explain it very well. At first, they alluded to the fact that maybe Ahmed wasn't heel and only joined the Nation to "wake" Taker up and get him to stop following Paul Bearer's orders. Then Ahmed vs. Taker was signed for Canadian Stampede ... which would have been interesting to say the least ... and then came another injury.