Muhammad Hassan confirms plan to make him the youngest World Champion in history before WWE release

Former WWE Superstar Muhammad Hassan, real name Marc Copani, joined Chris Featherstone on the second edition of Sportskeeda's UnSKripted series.

During the Q&A session which was simulcasted on Facebook and YouTube, I asked Marc Copani about the report that has been doing the rounds for a long time, which state that he was originally earmarked to beat Batista at SummerSlam 2005 for the World Heavyweight Championship. The win would have made Hassan the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history.

Muhammad Hassan had heard talks of WWE's plan for him to break Randy Orton's record

Randy Orton became the youngest holder of the big gold belt in 2004 and Copani confirmed that he'd heard about WWE's plan for him to break Orton's record following his release.

Copani explained that the WWE had not laid out a plan in front of him while he was still with the company. Copani said that when he heard of the talks after his release, they made sense as he would have won the title from Batista in DC, which is where they both lived at that time.

Copani added that it would have been a great honor, but some plans don't always pan out as intended.

"That's what I heard; I knew that was from what I found out after. That was the plan, and I'm pretty sure I am 15 days younger than Randy Orton. If I remember correctly, Randy was born on April 1st, and I'm April 16th. I know I heard that it was after the fact, there wasn't any sort of plan laid out in front of me, but it did make sense when I heard it beating Batista in DC, which ironically we both lived in at the time. I lived in DC at the time, with Dave, not with him, but we both lived in DC. He is from there. That was never something that was put in front of me, but I had heard it after the fact, and obviously, it would have been a great honor, but things don't always work out the way they are planned."

Copani was released from the WWE in 2005 after a TV angle sadly coincided with the London Bombings that year. WWE were pressurised to remove the character from TV and Copani was subsequently released from the company.

He retired from in-ring competition following his WWE release, and he's since had a successful career as an administrator in education.

Copani also spoke about his new career, his reaction to John Cena's prototype gimmick, why he misses working for the WWE, The Undertaker's retirement and a lot more during the Q&A session with Chris Featherstone.