Muhammad Hassan

Marc Julian Copani (born April 16, 1980) is an American retired professional wrestler.

He graduated from Cicero – North Syracuse High School in 1998.

He enrolled in the State University of New York at Buffalo, studying for a degree in history.

In 2002, he left university to pursue a career in professional wrestling.

Copani joined the Louisville, Kentucky-based promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in 2002.

He debuted in the same year under the ring name Mark Magnus.

On August 13, 2003, Copani defeated Johnny Jeter to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship.

The title was vacated on December 10, 2003, when Copani was pinned by both Jeter and Nick Dinsmore in a triple threat match.

As a wrestler he is best known for his appearances in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 2004 to 2005, where he portrayed an Arab American under the ring name Muhammad Hassan.

In 2004, the promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) approached OVW seeking a wrestler to portray an Arab American character.

Copani was offered the opportunity by OVW booker Jim Cornette.

Copani made his WWE television debut as a heel 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, Iranian-American Khosrow Daivari, introducing themselves.

He described himself as a wrestler of Jordanian-Palestinian descent wanting relief from the increased prejudice and stereotypes created by the 9/11 attacks, as he entered professional wrestling.

He then concluded 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 Persian translation of his speech 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.

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.

His career came to an abrupt end when a controversial terrorist angle coincided with the London bombings of July 7, 2005, leading the television network UPN to pressure WWE to remove Copani's character from television.

Following leaving WWE, he stopped wrestling, instead working as an educator.

He and Daivari faced the two announcers in an in-ring debate on the January 3, 2005 episode of Raw.

He then defeated Lawler in his debut match at the New Year's Revolution pay-per-view event.

In the course of his undefeated streak, Hassan defeated wrestlers such as The Hurricane, Sgt. Slaughter, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho.

Hassan had attracted much heat as a villain, a fact which was evident at the Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match itself.

When Hassan entered at number 13, everyone who was in the ring at the time (Booker T, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Edge, Eddie Guerrero, Luther Reigns, Rey Mysterio and Shelton Benjamin) immediately ganged up on Hassan and eliminated him.

Notably, Edge and Reigns were also heels at the time.

At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, 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 Hassan and Daivari.

The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault face Shawn Michaels.

The following week on Raw, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari.

Bischoff refused, but he did tell Michaels to find a partner and he would grant a match.

Michaels then made a plea for 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 Backlash on May 1, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels, with Daivari being pinned.

Hassan would blame and attack Daivari for the loss the next night on Raw.

On the May 30 episode of Raw, Hassan faced then World Heavyweight Champion Batista and won by disqualification.

However, he and Daivari were beaten by Batista after the match.

Copani returned to wrestling in 2018 at The Dynasty event King of Thrones.

Copani was born in Syracuse, New York, to a family of Italian descent.