Scandals & Feuds ·
The Hassan Segment That Aired on the Day of the London Bombings
WWE defended its pre-taped SmackDown scene, but viewer complaints and a UPN request preceded the character’s removal and eventual write-off.
On July 7, 2005, the day bombs struck London’s subway and bus system, UPN broadcast a pre-taped WWE SmackDown segment in which Muhammad Hassan prayed while five masked men attacked The Undertaker. The sequence had been recorded earlier that week, before the bombings. The U.S. decision to show it that evening—with a warning rather than an edit—brought complaints from viewers and scrutiny from newspapers. UPN later asked WWE to be sensitive in its use of Hassan’s character, who disappeared from SmackDown and was subsequently written off.
The scene followed The Undertaker’s victory over Daivari. Hassan knelt near the ring as the masked men rushed in and choked The Undertaker into unconsciousness. They then knelt in prayer, and Hassan lifted his opponent’s head toward the camera. The men left carrying Daivari above their heads. In the New York Post’s account, the procession evoked a suicide bomber’s funeral; Variety described a “terrorist-like attack” involving Arab-American characters.
The U.S. broadcast carried an advisory: “In light of today’s tragic events in London, parental discretion is advised in viewing this episode.” UPN said it ran the warning four times. The network and WWE told Variety that the tight interval between taping and transmission had left them unable to alter the episode. Yet the Post reported that the segment had been removed from the U.K. edition and that WWE had alerted broadcasters to its content after the bombings.
WWE disputed the interpretation of the scene, not its timing. Spokesman Gary Davis told Variety that the show had not been attempting to depict a terrorist attack, while acknowledging that some viewers could understand it that way. “We all feel bad about the timing of the segment,” he said. Executive producer Kevin Dunn defended the company’s approach to the Post: “We try and be sensitive with everything we portray, but there’s got to be protagonists and antagonists on our TV shows.”
UPN initially defended its choice to broadcast the episode. Spokeswoman Joanna Lowry said the network could preempt SmackDown but had not considered that necessary that evening. Its statement said the advisory allowed households to make their own viewing decisions and promised continued monitoring of the character and storyline. Variety reported that both WWE and UPN had heard from concerned viewers.
By the time of the Great American Bash pay-per-view, the response had shifted. In a statement, WWE said UPN had asked it “to be sensitive to the usage of the Arab-American character, Muhammad Hassan.” WWE said it had agreed and had kept Hassan off SmackDown since July 7. At that point, the company said it was uncertain whether the character would continue beyond the pay-per-view.
Looking back in a 2024 interview with Maven, Hassan recalled the attention spreading beyond wrestling: “We had media outrage about the fact that we even aired it.” At the Great American Bash, The Undertaker defeated Hassan, effectively writing the character off television.