UPN Bans Hassan Permanently

[The Czech Republic 0]

He should be sent back down to OVW to work on his wrestling and his talking. His promos weren't that good, youse guys.

[Angle-plex 0]

His promos were awful. I challenge anyone to name one promo that was so good we could put Hassan in the "incredible" promo guy category.

[RedJed 0]

Oh well, I guess if he gets released we could flood the WWE with angry e-mails about screwing him over.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This would probably be the first WWE release that would really bother me. This guy is young and talented and did everything that management asked of him. He goes from main eventer to food line in one day. Unbelievable.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You're making me crack up. He was not a main eventer and if he would have stuck around, I think all of you would find out REAL fast an experiment to do so would fail miserably. His promos were forced and boring, his ring work sucked, and he had NO charisma. How is that talent?

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Bah, whatever, shave his beard, grow out his hair some and call him anything else and 90% of the WWE fans won't know the difference. It's over, just move on.

[Black Lushus 0]

Hassan's character was just fine up until the point he went from "arab american oppressed by other americans because of 9/11" to "arab american that could possibly be a terrorist or have terroristic tendancies"...it almost seems like Vince started out with an idea he didn't really like (which was the better idea) and just COULDN'T help himself but switch it to what he really did want in the first place(evil foreigner gimmick #2627272)...as if he was just chomping at the bit to one day make that change...

[cabbageboy 0]

Actually, yes he should have said no to the recent UT angle. Look, these writers are dipshits...but the thing is no one simply says "This idea is retarded, I refuse." I'm not saying he needs to become Shawn Michaels circa 1995 in terms of being a backstage nightmare, but he can't say "No, having a bunch of terrorists attack UT is not the direction I'd like to take my character in?"

 

Having read Foley's book I didn't get the impression Vince was one to fire someone for disagreeing. Upon being given the gimmick Mason the Mutilator and a costume of chain mail, Foley simply told Vince "I hate this gimmick, can't we do something else?"

 

The problem Hassan has is that his character was so patently offensive that it'll be hard to do a "real life" piece along the lines of the Mankind and Goldust things that JR did. It also doesn't help that 99% of the audience has never heard of Mark Magnus (while most had heard of Cactus Jack and Dustin Rhodes) so it wouldn't have much perspective.

 

The silver lining of this debacle hasn't been mentioned all that much: At least we don't have to watch this sap main event SummerSlam now.

[RedJed 0]

Yeah, I feel sorry for the guy that has no dignity. 

 

Poor guy. 

 

But boy o boy, could he TALK!  Couldn't wrestle a lick, but those promos... FABULOUS.  Didn't get much heat, but, WOW.  PROMOS! 

 

You know, there was a guy... what's his name.... I forget.  But this guy thought you could hire ACTORS to be wrestlers and teach em a few moves.  Sounds silly, right?  It sounded stupid to everyone he said it to... oh what was his name?  Vince.. Retard... Nonono, he's still with the WWE... Roo... Roooooo.... Vince Russo!  Yeah, him!  Well, if some of you are so bent out of shape from this AWESOME TALENT potentially being gone, then maybe the WWE could hire some D-grade actors to say the lines the D-grade writers are feeding them, and you'd get the exact same effect.  And maybe they could hire an actual Arab this time!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

The guy wants to be a professional wrestler. He was training to become a professional wrestler. The WWE called him up before he was ready and saddled him with a cheap heat gimmick. The guy worked hard, did his job and got over enough to warrant a push to the main event. Now he might lose it all because the creative team is a bunch of monkeys with typewriters. How could you possibly fault the guy for that?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You're EXTREMELY delusional if you think he is over enough to warrant a main event push. WWE has been fucking busting their ass to TRY to get this guy over ever since he came around but the response is not anywhere near what should warrant being put into a consistent main event position. AGAIN I go back to when they built up the tag match at Backlash. That tag was, by all marketing indications, the main match that the company decided to promote around. Did it draw? NO.

 

Magnus is as talented overall to me as a Chris Masters. Both young, complete boring shit in the ring, tepid at best on the mic, and fucking ZERO charisma. Nothing to me stands out that makes me think, "OMG this guy is going to be a fucking star in x number of years."

[RedJed 0]

Plus, I really thought the guy was over.  And someone else did because he got to wrestle Hogan in his comeback match, meet in Austin in his Raw return and get a Summerslam main event.  I thought he got real "I hate you" heat instead of the cheap boo because he doesn't like America ( a la Unamericans or La Resistance).  But then again, I guess we were just seeing different things.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It wasnt because they thought he was over that they penciled him in with Hogan, and then ran the angle with Austin, it was because they were forcing the hand and attempting to push him down the throats of the fans, almost like a JBL back last year. There is a HUGE different there between a long term plan for a heel that sees the company turning their head away from a lack of interest in the character who is actually not over but is so damn set on putting him into main event contention they dont care and a heel who actually gets over without the forcefulness and they run with it. If he got real heat then people would have been going fucking nuts for Hogan to kick his ass in that tag match and there would have been a solid buyrate for the show. Ultimately it fell below expectations. By the way, they had planned to build to Austin's return match against Hassan but the lack of a draw and interest for Hogan/Hassan feud forced them to drop that idea altogether. What else do you people need to realize this guy wasnt over? I'll say it again, he got the same kind of heat and was about as over as La Resistance!

[RedJed 0]

So, WWE has been forced to scrap a character that, not only was getting a serious push, but was a major part of their summer angles to be in one of the main events for their second or third biggest PPV of the year. Yeah, that angle might have been a mistake(!).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I call it a blessing in disguise

[Black Lushus 0]

I think the guy started off pretty hot with enough genuine heel heat...my problem with him is that he was going in the direction as Carlito: heel with a big mouth who can't back it up unless he cheats...that works wonderfully for Carlito, but a character like Hassan, the way he was originally built up, should be able to hold his own against any opponent...with Carlito, you say, yeah there's no way this guy can win unless he cheats like nuts...with Hassan, he SHOULD be matching every opponent move for move (I know he's a smaller man, but that never stopped Benoit, Guerrero or Jericho from putting on believable matches against bigger guys), but that's not what they did with him...totally killed his credibility as a main event threat...

[cabbageboy 0]

Lushus, Carlito doesn't even cheat like nuts. He does the ho hum routine "heel puts feet on ropes or grabs ropes" crap that was tired by 1990. He's literally like if you made HTM into a Puerto Rican. Honky was also crap for the most part but at least he could sell.

 

Isn't it interesting whenever it comes time to push some Evil Foreign Heel that circumstances get in the way? Hell, they were going to put the title on LUDVIG BORGA back in the day, but thankfully he got hurt and that was scrapped and Bret ended up getting the title again. Same case here.

 

Also, pushing Hassan to the main of SS is idiotic beyond just the gimmick. He's in no position to main event. This guy just got squashed in 3 mins. by Cena in his last Raw match...are people just supposed to forget this and buy a PPV with him headlining? Hell, Hassan had all the heat of Rob Conway in La Res and Conway is the far better wrestler.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

All I can say is Hussan's not allowed but JBL's promo last night was fine?

[Karc 0]

JBL got a 10-month title reign as a reward for offending Germany and getting himself fired from CNBC or whatever he was doing. Hassan is definately getting something for offending the UK and getting himself canned from UPN. Vince's streak for mass publicity at lucky times continues.

 

No way I'm defending anyone, though. Hassan was a fool for taking the angle, though all one of the agents had to say was "Matt Morgan" and Hassan would have been screwed anyway. Seriously, the line must have been "do a shitty and offensive angle that displays none of your talents because you don't have any and be fired in a few months with no hope of a comeback, or defy us and we fire you, then proceeed to bury you on TV so bad you will never draw anywhere ever again." WWE gets most of the blame for their usual shitty booking. UPN could have easily edited the segment, but they didn't because they were curious. And chicken.

 

Bye Smackdown.

[Guest Trecko]

Then again, he entertained a bunch of people who have bad taste in wrestling and television, so let's start a petition!  He had great music!  Give him the title!  HE WORKED HARD! (Though clearly not on his ring skills!)  FUCK UPN!

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And people call Rudo wrong. These posts have taken a downturn and now act as if Hassan was the second coming of the Rock, and that IS laughably stupid. People, please take Hassan off the cross he's on right now (note the irony there). I'm sure you'll have forgotten about him anyway this time next year.

 

Jesus, as renowned as wrestling fans are for being fickle and forgetful you'd think this guy would've been a distant memory by now. But nooo, people want to be all "fuck the network...fuck television authority...the WWE is HARDKORE!"...while the WWE laughs along, agrees, and takes your money regardless of the situation. Hm. Carry on, then, and let's hope a lightning bug flies by to recapture your attention.

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Got to love how some of ya'll are preachin ya views like it's fuckin gospel in here. Is there some clause in wrestling that if a wrestler doesn't make OTHER people buy tickets to shows or watch ppv's that you as in individual shouldn't like him and want to see him do well? Did I miss the memo?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Did I miss the memo?

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Yes. You can like him but he's not a good talker or worker by any stretch of imagination. His heat comes from the gimmick itself. If they put Jimmy Snuka Jr in that role, he'd get the same heat. Ditto with anyone from OVW.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Actually, yes he should have said no to the recent UT angle.  Look, these writers are dipshits...but the thing is no one simply says "This idea is retarded, I refuse."  I'm not saying he needs to become Shawn Michaels circa 1995 in terms of being a backstage nightmare, but he can't say "No, having a bunch of terrorists attack UT is not the direction I'd like to take my character in?"

 

Having read Foley's book I didn't get the impression Vince was one to fire someone for disagreeing.  Upon being given the gimmick Mason the Mutilator and a costume of chain mail, Foley simply told Vince "I hate this gimmick, can't we do something else?"

No. He couldn't have said no. You can't accurately compare Mick Foley of 1996 to Mark Magnus of 2004. When Foley came into the WWF, he was a somewhat established star, sought out for notable work in WCW, ECW, and Japan. He couldn't veto everything McMahon said, but he could fine-tune things a bit, because he did have enough capital built up by then. Magnus just came up through OVW. Who is he to say "I won't work this gimmick"?

 

Now I'm not of the whole Bob Holly school of "YOU HAVE 2 PAY YOUR DOOOOOZ!!!" but I think you do need to build up some capital before you start refusing assignments. It'd be like a call-up from AAA telling the manager he's not gonna bunt. Yeah, maybe he shouldn't, because bunting is dumb, but really, shut your freakin' mouth.

[humongous2002 0]

Vince and JBL got lucky with the Nazi incident last year since it happened in another country and the U.S. media didn't give two shits about it, JBL went out of his way to get cheap heat since he wasn't (and still isn't) over as a heel and he got rewarded for it with a laughable long WWE title reign.

Hassan on the other hand started as a frustrated Arab-American and turned into Al-qaeda on the Undertaker just for listening to the dumb writers since he is a rookie trying to get his feet wet in the big time.

Hassan and JBL are not main event material IMO but at least Hassan was entertaining and the other still is the biggest joke in pro-wrestling history.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, I'm not saying Magnus should have refused the initial gimmick...he probably just thought he'd end up playing the usual evil foreigner and get some cheap heat. Whatever to get to the big time. I can see why he didn't refuse to do the gimmick.

 

I refer more to the recent angle. Hassan has at least been around a slight amount of time now, so yes I think he should have said "This isn't something my character would do." I should think some of it is because he's not really an Arab, thus it all amounts to play acting. Look, they wouldn't release a guy that they've invested some serious TV time in for refusing to do one really stupid and potentially offensive angle.

 

At the end of the day UPN is doing them a favor. SS with Batista/Hassan would have tanked horribly (though the show still might), whereas Batista/UT might have some interest.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Owen Hart didn't want to run an angle he didn't like. If a respected established star couldn't turn down an offensive angle without catching hell from the writers and getting punished, how do you expect a farm system call-up to get himself out of something?

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Yea, and because Owen didn't want to do the angle with Debra he got saddled with the Blue Blazer 2.0 gimmick that ended up killing him. Basic lesson: do what "creative" tells you or they'll make your life a living hell.

[Guest JesusJuiced]

Undertaker was the guy being choked by terrorists, in his position, he should shoulder more blame than Hassan.

[Just John 0]

Undertaker was the guy being choked by terrorists, in his position, he should shoulder more blame than Hassan.

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I'm not quite sure what this means, but it inspires a good question. Why wasn't UT (someone who actually has a shot at changing the angle) saying anything about it? If UT the accomplished veteran goes along with it, what gives Hassan any credibility to bitch to creative?

[Dangerous A 0]

Why wasn't UT (someone who actually has a shot at changing the angle) saying anything about it?

 

 

Cause UT has bad taste as well?

[cabbageboy 0]

Do you know how many bad angles UT has been involved with? When I first read the spoilers for this angle it reminded me of RR 94 with 10 idiots tossing UT in the casket. I think that's more of what they were going for to be honest, just your typical cheesy Taker angle.

 

I think there's a world of difference between Owen not wanting to do an angle with Debra and Hassan not wanting to be portrayed as a terrorist. It's hard to say really because I don't know what Magnus was thinking...maybe he wanted to do this angle. I'm fairly sure they didn't realize the uproar it would cause, it was mostly horrible timing.

 

Incidentally the Owen argument is a bizarre one since I kinda doubt they set him up to die as Blue Blazer in revenge for him not wanting to do the Debra angle. In fact he was likely to win the IC title from the Godfather at that PPV.

 

Anyway, I have no idea what you do with Hassan now. He'll be back down here on OVW but I have no idea what new gimmick he'd do. I say just put a mask on him or something. Bring him back up, have them wonder "Who is this masked man?" to get him moderately over, then have him be unmasked revealing that he's Hassan. From there he does a sitdown interview and attempts to explain things.

 

Either that or just release him.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I'm not saying they planned his death, smart guy, but they went out of their way to make him look like an ass as punishment for rightfully objecting to an angle that they thought was brilliant. My point is, it's damned hard to go against what the writers plan for you.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Then we fundamentally disagree. I can't fault the guy for doing his job, whether it was in poor taste of not. We all see how political this WWE stuff is, and if he wanted a sustained push it was in his best interest to go with the flow. If you have a problem with that, I respect your opinion.

 

Hassan is an independant contractor. He's a plumber. If a plumber feels a job is too dangerous, he can freely say no and the job will go to someone else. If that plumber is good enough, there will be more work in the future. Magnus could have said no, and the only thing that would happen is he'd have to wait another year or two. Saying no would have taken dignity and a backbone - so of course he said yes because the man is nothing but a whore. Then again, most -if not all- wrestlers are whores. Wrestling would be a much better thing to watch if there weren't guys like Hassan willing to do anything to get into the spotlight.

[Dangerous A 0]

To add to the discussion, this little blurb is taken from the WWE section of the new Observer...

 

"Regarding Hassan, there is heat on him personally. Most in the company were not unhappy in the least about the negative publicity. There are schools of thought on it. I guess they thought all the pub Hassan into a media star and would help ratings. The problem is the heat in the pub wasn't on Hassan it was on WWE and UPN. The Heat on Hassan is that he's balked at some of their ideas to put major heat on him, whether it be fear for his own safety or just being uncomfortable with them. The talk has been that he has never done anything in wrestling and therefore shouldn't be saying no to any ideas."

 

Just thought this was an interesting blurb to throw in here after the last page of posts in this thread.

[Guest Trecko]

Wow. I don't know which is worse - them being mad that he had moral issues with some of the things they had him doing and saying no (which shuts a lot of you up), or them actually thinking that any of his actions would simply reflect on him, not the company itself. Do they think people still think this shit is real? WTF?

[Guest Ransome]

I'm surprised so many people here are painting Hassan (or 'Magnus', as I guess is now appropriate) as a sympathetic victim here. Remember, the man was about to be shoved into the mainevent of the company's second biggest pay-per-view of the year without having any decent matches whatsoever, over and above the dozens of talented wrestlers all around him who deserved the spot. Now, it won't happen; easy come, easy go. I'm not saying he ought get fired now, because he shouldn't, and he won't - WWE can easily repackage him into any other character they choose. Clearly, doing his job and his gimmick the way WWE instructed him was about to pay off bigtime, and even now I believe he's in a far better position in the wrestling world than he would have been if he'd flat out refused to play the race card gimmick and walked out.

[cabbageboy 0]

Oh I agree. The main point is that now we're at least spared a really wretched direction of Hassan main eventing. I personally don't think Magnus has a hope in hell of amounting to anything at this point...the only reason he got as much TV time as he did was his ultra cheap heat gimmick. Without that crutch he's merely going to be another substandard OVW guy, and not a terribly talented one at that. I actually saw Magnus at an OVW taping and he made zero impression as anyone who had skills (then again, neither did Carlito or most of the OVW roster).

 

I think The Rock's success really was bad in one aspect. Since he got so good by his 2nd or 3rd year they now think they can take any rookie trainee and make him a world champion within 3 years. Thing is, hardly anyone has that once in a lifetime charisma.