Mustafa Ali was released from WWE last week and he was certainly one of the more surprising names on the list. Ali had been appearing on NXT programming and he was originally set to challenge Dominik Mysterio for the NXT North American Championship at No Mercy.
Haus of Wrestling reports that a source who spoke on the situation said they didn’t believe Mustafa Ali was ever really going to get the chance to shine in the company. The same source also noted that they didn’t know why.
Those who were around for his NXT run said that he was always upbeat and smiled even though some people could tell he was unhappy with his position. One person described Mustafa Ali as the “ultimate pro” and it’s being said that he wasn’t completely caught off guard by his release.
One possible reason given for Mustafa Ali’s release was the politically charged vignette that aired on NXT. The character had previously been pitched on the main roster, but WWE never followed through with it. It’s being said that some people “freaked out” once they saw the vignette on TV because FOX previously expressed nervousness regarding Ali using that character. The political angle was then quickly dropped.
Originally Mustafa Ali was supposed to be part of Raw this week and the plan was for him to be involved with Dominik Mysterio’s NXT North American Title defense against Dragon Lee.
Stay tuned for updates.
