During an interview with Fightful, Muhammad Hassan spoke about his episode of Dark Side of the Ring, calling it one of the best decisions he’s ever made. Hassan’s episode will air on VICE TV this Tuesday. Here are highlights:

On being a fan of the series: “I watched Dark Side of the Ring. I love Dark Side of the Ring. Like I’d watched every episode when I got the call from the producer. It was Chris who put that out into the universe, ‘Why don’t you do a Dark Side episode?’ and I was like, ‘I don’t want to do a Dark Side episode. It always ends tragically.’ Like, ‘Why would you wish that upon me?’ is what I said to him. Hearing them present this idea that they had for examining the controversial aspect of wrestling and then the life after wrestling was pretty appealing because it was different than anything I’d ever really seen on Dark Side, and you’re right. They explore controversial events and situations and then controversial people, which typically end tragically. I was not into it at first. I really was like, ‘I have a very different life. I have a different career.’ The irony of being the most controversial wrestler that couldn’t even survive on television after the London bombings to now being the Director of Human Resources isn’t lost on me, but that comes with a lot of responsibility and really a lot of obligation to portray myself as a professional for the school district that I work for and for my family.”

On being convinced by the producers: “So Dark Side really did a great job of selling me on the what-if storylines that it could be. Like, ‘We’re not gonna do this. We’re gonna do this. We’re not gonna focus on just the controversy.’ What it ultimately evolved into is, ‘We’re gonna focus on the human being behind the controversy and how that affected you, not only as a person, but your career and what you’ve done post wrestling. I was hooked after that, and the people over there are just all so friendly and so great. They’re just so accommodating, and it was such a fun day to go over. I worked with three guys, cameramen, two of the producers just kind of getting set up, and the interview was like six or seven hours. The thing I remember most from it was like the camera is literally right here in your face, even though the angle doesn’t really demonstrate that, because it looks like it’s a little bit more distant. I remember just eventually feeling so comfortable and having that conversation that when I saw the screener, I sat there just looking at the TV for like 10 minutes—maybe not that long—but my wife’s like, ‘Are you okay?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ It was surreal to see that part of my life played out in story form and to be so proud of it. They did a great job. So it was definitely one of the better decisions I’ve made, probably second to doing the interview with you over 10 years ago.”