Kurt Angle Explains Why Shawn Daivari Could Have Been Bigger Star In WWE
During Kurt Angle’s final year as a full-time superstar in the mid-2000s, he was paired with Shawn Daivari as his manager. Angle recently spoke about why he thought Daivari was under-utilized by WWE.
Angle was talking about Shawn Daivari (who also used the names Khosrow Daivari and simply Daivari in his career) on his Kurt Angle Show podcast [available early and ad-free at AdFreeShows.com] about when Angle left WWE in 2006.
The WWE Hall of Famer Angle spoke about Davari’s natural ability to draw heat and ability to make people hate him could have paid off for WWE, but it just didn’t happen:
“Oh, [Shawn Daivari] could have been utilized so much more. The kid had natural heat. People naturally just hated [him]. He had great heat and he was a great worker in the ring. We never really found that out. But I think that if WWE were to utilize them in a different way, he would have been a lot more successful.”
Daivari debuted in WWE in 2004 (at the age of 20) along with the controversial character Muhammad Hassan. While Hassan got a decent push early on, his run in WWE ended in the summer of 2005 after a controversial angle with The Undertaker. The character was “killed” by The Undertaker at Great American Bash 2005, so to speak.
After Hassan’s WWE departure, Daivari ended up being paired with Kurt Angle. It only lasted a few months before Angle (who turned babyface on Smackdown) fired Daivari, so then Daivari paired with Mark Henry. That would lead to Henry getting high-profile matches against Angle and also losing to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 22.
Daivari’s run in WWE continued as he became the manager of the debuting Great Khali in April 2006.
Following his WWE career, Daivari went on to have success in TNA Wrestling and other promotions.
Currently, Daivari works for WWE as a Producer.