Mansoor reflects on the pathway that led him through WWE.
In 2018, Mansoor emerged as one of only eight talents to be offered additional training at the WWE Performance Center following a WWE tryout in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Upon reporting to the WWE PC, Mansoor hopped on the road for a series of NXT live events before making his NXT television debut in February 2019.
Looking back on these early WWE days, Mansoor noted that he was grateful for any opportunity that came his way. More importantly, though, Mansoor took great pride in paying his dues.
“When I first went to NXT, I reported at the PC, I think most, or at least the majority of the people working there did not know I had any previous wrestling experience. They also didn’t know that I had lived in America for most of my life. I moved to the States when I was like 11 years old, so I was kind of treated like a brand-new talent,” Mansoor told WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard. “The fact that I was Saudi did in no way affect my career, I would say, until that battle royal spot [at Super ShowDown], because my first appearance on NXT was a squash match. I got squashed, and by the way, I was super excited for it.”
“I just wanted to get any opportunity at any time, anywhere. Was doing the house shows, was paying my dues. I was building the rings with everybody else. Everybody builds the ring. I saw big stars build the ring. Mace was there when Shinsuke Nakamura was building the ring. That’s just what we did, whether you’re a brand new, you were an NFL player, whether you’re on the Indies, or whether you were a star in New Japan or anywhere else.”
Winning The 2019 51-Man Battle Royal
A year after signing with WWE, Mansoor received a major opportunity that would elevate his career to a new level. At WWE’s 2019 Super ShowDown pay-per-view, Mansoor was selected to compete in a special 51-man battle royal. Heading into the event, Mansoor was just aiming to put on a good performance for himself. Upon his arrival to rehearsals, though, Mansoor learned that he’d be winning the bout as well.
“I didn’t know if I was going to win [that match],” Mansoor said. “I came in kind of being like, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll get a good showing, and then a real star will win the match. This is just kind of to introduce me.’ And I remember when we were practicing in the rehearsals, we were practicing entrances. Originally I was going to get an entrance to be like, ‘Oh, it’s the Saudi guy, Mansoor.’ They’re like, ‘No, no, no, let’s cut his entrance.’ I was like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s okay. As long as I get to have an appearance in the match.’ Then I remember Jamie Noble pulls me aside and he’s like, ‘Hey kid, you’re winning the whole thing.’ And I was like, ‘Oh sh**.’
Noble told Mansoor that they cut his entrance because they wanted it to be a surprise. He agreed it was a smart decision, but going over the match was a bit of a nightmare.
“Jamie Noble’s going through it. I’m standing in the back. I’m trying to not take up any space or attention. I know that people are probably not going to be very happy with me being a brand-new unknown winning this match. Jamie’s going through it. I’ll never forget Heath Slater in the middle of Jamie’s speech just goes, ‘Who the hell is winning this thing?’ And Jamie goes, ‘That kid,’ Everybody just turns and looks at me and I just want to die, but it all worked out in the end. I got to know a lot of those guys much, much closer when I got called up for good. I love them all. They were all really, really cool to me.”
Mansoor’s ‘Dysfunctional’ WWE Family
As Mansoor continued working his way up through the rankings, he found some new friends, or rather, family members, along the way, one of which is Mustafa Ali. Despite their seeming “dysfunction,” Mansoor asserts that Ali helped him step out of his shell, especially in the creative aspect of their jobs.
“I always call [Ali] my work dad. Mace is my work wife. Ali is my work dad. We have a very dysfunctional family. Dijak is my work uncle because he’s the weird one who’s always shouting and complaining,” Mansoor said. “So when we did that tag team, where it was sort of like an odd pair. We had similar backgrounds, both of the same faith, but I was like a fresh-faced, blue, chipper, doe-eyed babyface. And he was sort of the bitter, resentful. He had just gone through Retribution, so he had quite the axe to grind. That was kind of the dynamic in real life, too.”
“I remember Ali dragging me around all over backstage to writers and production guys and important people in the office, [including] Kevin Dunn, that I had never met before, even though I’d been called up for months because I was too shy to basically introduce myself,” Mansoor explained.
“He would drag me to all these places and go, ‘What are we doing this week? What are we going to do tonight? All right, we filmed this vignette. Can we get it on the show? Okay, we’re gonna do our best. All right, all right.’ He was the serious businessman. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I just need to try and be as professional as possible and do whatever he says because he’s so incredibly ambitious.’ That definitely rubbed off on me because after that run, that’s when I started to really get involved, or trying rather, to get involved in the creative process.”
Next Moves
After a five-year run in WWE, Mansoor was released from the company in September 2023 alongside his tag team partner Mace. Now, the two have begun exploring avenues outside of WWE, which includes several notable independent wrestling promotions.
Now known as MxM, Mansoor and Mace will soon gear up to face the West Coast Wrestling Crew at Deadlock Pro Wrestling in North Carolina on January 20th. MxM previously appeared at DPW’s 2nd Anniversary show on December 10.
The following weekend, the duo will make their way to Tampa, Florida for a pair of appearances at Game Changer Wrestling. On January 26, Mansoor will square off with Tony Deppen for GCW’s Look At Me show. The next day, Mace and Mansoor will reunite at Effy’s Big Gay Brunch event.
“Very excited for that [weekend]. On one night I get to wrestle Tony Deppen, who’s a tremendous wrestler, incredible technical wrestler,” Mansoor said. “I’m very excited for that because I think we’ll steal the show. I’m very excited to surprise people with what I can do when given sort of the opportunity to do so. And then the next day at Effy’s, me and Mace are going to reunite. DPW will be the first time it’s MxM. I think GCW in Tampa, I think we’re going to reunite in a different sort of sense. We might see the reemergence of perhaps a tag team of more of a maximum personality. We shall see.”
Before Mansoor goes to DPW and GCW, he will head up north for a no-ring hardcore match against Gabriel Skye. This contest will take place at New Fear City in Brooklyn, New York City on January 12.
Watch our full interview with Mansoor below:
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