Muhammad Hassan speaks with Fightful

Sean Ross Sapp spoke to the former Muhammad Hassan, Marc Copani, ahead of the Dark Side of the Ring episode Copani is featured in.

SRS and Copani originally spoke back nearly ten years ago for his first post-wrestling interview, which Copani said opened him up to doing appearances and additional interviews. He returned to wrestling in an impromptu match a number of years ago while just visiting a show, and did a few matches, but decided he wasn't going to do it again. He says it's very flattering when people say that he looks like he could still wrestle, and says that's more aesthetic than in-ring performance at this point.

Copani said he was never broached for a WWE return or any additional work with the company, and he didn't expect to be. He pretty well knew he couldn't come back to WWE and do another character. We spoke about the state of the locker room, the reaction from that crowd and if he believes perception has shifted. He watches wrestling on occasion, and likes the A&E documentaries.

He's kept in touch with Shawn Daivari, but not Tommaso Ciampa, who portrayed his lawyer. He had minimal interaction with Ciampa but thinks it's amazing what he's been able to do in his career. He wasn't very close with Maven, but was very happy to do a video on his channel, and is open to appearing more. He wouldn't mind doing a channel of his own when he has time, but has to find his niche.

We asked him about the project he worked on with Shad Gaspard for years until Gaspard's passing. The project, Assassin & Son, was originally to be a vehicle for Shad Gaspard as a leading actor. It eventually got shot down because someone who wanted the screenplay wanted the protagonist to be white. They turned it into a graphic novel, then it got optioned for a possible film. Copani said that even when he was broke, Gaspard said they were 50/50 in the project and he wanted to make it happen. Copani has continues to work on it with Gaspard's widow.

Hassan talked about the work he did on the still unreleased Wrestling Code video game years ago. He did some motion capture and some promos, but isn't sure what the status of the game is yet. He did motion capture for poses as opposed to moves.

We spoke about Dark Side of The Ring, and he enjoys and watches the show in general, but didn't want to be a part of it because of the often tragic ending. He was really happy that Jim Cornette was involved to provide a look at things from an angle he wasn't privy to. He was very pleased with the final product when he saw the screener, and thought they did a great job. The episode airs at 10 PM on May 27 on Vice, and he is doing a watch party at his friend's bar the following day.

The full interview is available at this link