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Mark Copani (born November 7, 1981) is a currently inactive professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Muhammad Hassan, a controversial heel wrestler forced into an unceremonious exit.

Career

Copani was born in Amman, Jordan to an Arab mother and an Italian father and raised in Syracuse, New York, where he graduated from CNS (Cicero-North Syracuse) high school. Using Mark Magnus as his name, he made his professional wrestling debut in 2003 at WWE's training ground, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He was once managed by Nikita Fink.

WWE RAW

He made his WWE TV debut on RAW as Muhammad Hassan on December 13, 2004 in an in-ring segment with Mick Foley after wrestling dark matches and house shows for about two months. His introductory video and gimmick featured him and his manager, Khosrow Daivari introducing themselves. He described himself as a Middle Eastern-American wrestler wanting relief from the increased stereotypes created by the 9/11 attacks, as he enters professional wrestling. He then concludes with a controversial extension of hands and praise to Allah. He stopped praising Allah vocally due to complaints by Muslim-Americans, but still extended his hands during his ring entrance. His speech followed by a supposedly Arabic translation of his speech (in truth Persian) by Daivari. Hassan's gimmick also involved him interrupting promos by other wrestlers with his theme music and approaching the ring to cut promos of his own, typically complaining about being held back due to anti-Arab prejudice. This gimmick would often be parodied on YTMND.com

Making his entrance into the WWE, he berated the way the media have characterized Arab-Americans after September 11. As an example, he focused his anger on RAW announcers Jerry "The King" Lawler and Jim Ross. He then defeated Jerry Lawler in his debut match at New Year's Revolution. In the course of his undefeated streak, Hassan defeated wrestlers such as The Hurricane, Sgt. Slaughter, Chris Benoit, and Chris Jericho.

Hassan had attracted so much heat as a heel, a fact which was evident at the Royal Rumble 2005, in the Rumble match itself. When Hassan entered at number 13, everyone who was in the ring at the time: Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Edge, Shelton Benjamin, Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Luther Reigns immediately ganged up on Hassan and eliminated him.

At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, 2005, Hassan and Daivari were featured in a segment with Hulk Hogan that saw Hogan coming to the rescue of wrestler Eugene who was being attacked by the two Arab-American performers.

The next night on RAW, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week, Michaels approached RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused but did tell Michaels to find a partner and he would grant a match. Michaels then made a plea for Hulk Hogan to come back and team with him. On the April 18 episode of RAW, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared to save Michaels and accept his offer.

At the WWE Backlash pay-per-view Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels, with Daivari being pinned. Hassan would blame and attack Daivari for the loss the next evening on RAW.

On May 30, 2005, Hassan faced popular World Heavyweight Champion Batista and was squashed in the biggest match of Hassan's career. While Hassan won via disqualification, he and Daivari were severely beaten by Batista after the match.

The next week, Hassan was granted a 2-on-1 Handicap Match with Daivari for the Intercontinental Championship against Shelton Benjamin after threatening RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff with a lawsuit for Batista's actions. After Hassan initially appeared to pin Benjamin and win the title, the referee realized Benjamin was on the ropes and reversed his decision. Benjamin eventually pinned Daivari to retain his title.

On June 20, Hassan and Daivari interrupted a promo by WWE Champion John Cena to complain about how Hassan was "screwed" out of the Intercontinental Title; Bischoff took the opportunity to punish Cena by booking him against Hassan in a WWE Title defense. However, Hassan's losing streak in title matches continued as Cena dominated him in a one-minute squash match, pinning him cleanly and thus ending his "unpinned" streak.

SmackDown!

On the June 23, 2005 episode of SmackDown!, it was revealed both Hassan and Daivari were drafted to SmackDown! in the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. Hassan's move to SmackDown! would spell the beginning of the end of the Hassan character and ultimately Copani's tenure with WWE. Hassan won his first SmackDown! match, a match against Big Show with help from Big Show's rival Matt Morgan. The following week, Hassan was involved in a confrontation with The Undertaker.

On the episode of SmackDown! taped on July 4, General Manager Teddy Long put Muhammad Hassan in a match against The Undertaker at the Great American Bash and placed Daivari in a match that night against the Undertaker. Daivari was defeated easily, but Hassan began to "pray" on the ramp, summoning five masked men, dressed almost completely in black. Armed with clubs and a piano wire, they beat and choked the Undertaker out, and Hassan put him in the Camel Clutch. Afterward, the masked men lifted Daivari above their heads and carried him away. Three days later, hours before the episode was scheduled to air, the 7 July 2005 London bombings took place. Without sufficient time to properly edit the segment out of the show, UPN showed the footage unedited in America and on The Score in Canada with an advisory warning shown several times during the broadcast. It was removed from the Australian and European (including in the UK) broadcasts.

The storyline elicited national attention in the New York Post, TV Guide, Variety and other major media outlets. In response to the criticism, UPN decided that it would monitor the storyline closely and that it did not want the Hassan character on its network that week. Hassan later delivered a promo to the live crowd for the July 14 airing of SmackDown!, but when UPN announced that the segment would be edited, WWE decided to host the video of the segment on its official website. In the segment, Hassan, reiterates that he is an Arab-American and that the American people automatically and unfairly assume that he is a terrorist. Despite being in character, he referred to the real-world media coverage of the storyline, singling out the New York Post's Don Kaplan by name. On the July 14 episode of SmackDown!, Hassan's absence was explained by a statement delivered by his lawyer, which said that Hassan refused to appear on the show until that month's Great American Bash due to the way he had been treated by the media and WWE fans.

It was revealed in late-July 2005 that UPN had pressured WWE to keep Hassan off of their network, effectively removing him from SmackDown! However, Hassan had been booked as the winner in his #1 Contender's match against the Undertaker at The Great American Bash, setting up a Batista-Hassan match for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. With no chance of having Hassan wrestle on SmackDown!, the Undertaker won the match instead. At the Great American Bash 2005, after Hassan's loss, he was given the Last Ride through an open stage ramp onto a concrete floor where it was reported that he sustained serious injuries and had to be rushed to a nearby medical facility, apparently a solution aimed to end the Hassan character. Several days later, when WWE.com hosted a video of a kayfabe announcement from Theodore Long, where he reiterates the stipulation that Hassan would no longer appear on SmackDown!. He said to Hassan, "You can go to RAW, or you can go anywhere else in the world. But as far as I'm concerned, you can go to hell!!" Due to increasing public pressure, the WWE was forced to later drop the character altogether, sending Copani and Daivari to their developmental territories to alter their gimmicks.This resulted in huge fan backlash, mostly because Hassan had developed a cult following and had been booked to fight for the the World Title at SummerSlam.

Although Daivari would report to Deep South Wrestling (and later would return to WWE), wrestling reports indicated that Copani would not, and on September 21, 2005, Copani parted ways with WWE. While the WWE article detailing his release indicated that he may return in the future (possibly in his Hassan character), Copani was quoted as being eager to pursue a career in acting. However, he has left open the possibility of returning to wrestling in WWE.

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves

• Weapon of Mass Destruction / Box Cutter (Reverse STO)
• STO
• Camel clutch
• Finishing Touch (Spinning front facelock elbow drop)
• Back suplex backbreaker

• Managers

• Daivari

• Quotes

• "We are sick and tired of your prejudice and your racism!"
• "If you people don't open your eyes..."
• "If you won't give us the respect we demand, then I will beat it out of anyone who gets in my way!"
• "I blame every single one of you!"
• "My New Years Resolution is to personally beat some sense into America!"
• No, because I'm not gonna wrestle a guy I don't respect!" (Towards Mick Foley)

Championships and accomplishments

• Ohio Valley Wrestling

• OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Footnotes

1. Amanullah, Shahed (2005-07-28). ""Muslim" Wrestlers Get Smackdown In Wake Of Bombings". alt.muslim. Retrieved 2007-02-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

• Times Online article on Hassan

• Articles lacking sources from March 2007
• American professional wrestlers
• World Wrestling Entertainment alumni
• People from Syracuse, New York
• American Muslim
• Arab Americans
• Italian-American actors
• Italian-American sportspeople
• 1981 births
• Living people