Ahmed Johnson Explains His Reputation For Being Difficult To Work With In WWE

For many, Ahmed Johnson has been a curious story of "What if" in wrestling history. The former WWE star displayed great potential, winning the WWE Intercontinental Title in 1996 before eventually fading away and exiting the company in 1998. Johnson has long talked about the reasons for his departure but has also suggested that racism played a part as well.

One example of that, which Johnson revealed during an appearance on "Ten Count," was a proposed angle between himself and The Truth Commission — something that Johnson ultimately turned down.

"The thing with the Truth Commission was — what they wanted to do was they wanted him to hang me from a rope," Johnson said. "Yes. You know how lynching is a very sore subject for black people? They wanted to hang me from a rope," he added. "That just wasn't going to happen with me, brother. I'll do any other angle but with a rope? No."

Johnson, who left just prior to when it would have happened, believes that drawing boundaries on such an angle led to him developing a reputation as difficult.

"That's where the 'He's hard to work with' comes in at," Johnson said. "Cause I said no one time. You know, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Razor, and Diesel and them could say no, but I couldn't say no. So I said no. I wouldn't agree to it."

"So all that coming down on me at once, man, I don't know. That time, just a bunch of stuff was coming down on me. So I guess more my mental mind wasn't right. I wasn't set up, mentally, to do all these things," he added. "It was hard to handle those things all at once."

If you use quotes in this article, please credit "Ten Count" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription