Mustafa Ali was released from his WWE contract at a very surprising time.
Former WWE Superstar Mustafa Ali was a recent guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet. When asked if he was surprised by his WWE release, Ali said he wasn’t surprised he was released but was more surprised by the timing as he was scheduled for a big premium live event later that week.
“Not surprised that it happened. Surprised when it did happen? Yeah,” Mustafa Ali admitted. “I think I was in NXT at the time, and I actually had a pay-per-view match scheduled that weekend with Dominik Mysterio for the North American Championship.”
When asked about the reports that he was scheduled to win that match, Ali confirmed that was the plan but he never believes anything in wrestling until it actually happens.
“I don’t believe anything until it happens,” Mustafa Ali said. “But yeah, I don’t mind sharing. I think that was the plan. But mind you, the plan was actually to put the North American Champion on me months prior. But WWE is so smart with advertising and contract negotiation.
“So NXT, the network deal was coming up. Shawn in NXT is awesome. He explains to me, he’s like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna put the North American Championship on you.’ What happens is the network deal is coming up, and this is when Judgment Day, specifically Dom, is just white hot. I mean, they’re still white hot right now, but Dom was next level right there.
Mustafa Ali explains why Dominik Mysterio won the NXT North American Championship
“So they were like, ‘Hey, everyone in Judgment Day has a championship. We want to put a championship on Dom, and we want to spike the ratings for NXT.’ Because the idea is if you spike the ratings with the contract negotiations this helps you. So this is when Seth was coming and Becky was coming back.
“So I get a call from Shawn, ‘Hey, we’re actually putting the championship on Dom, and here’s a reason.’ I go, Yeah, that makes total sense, awesome. Do it like that. I didn’t expect it coming. Dom’s gonna come and challenge Wes Lee and beat him, great. So we do that. Then we do a three-way match, which was super fun, with Dom, me, and Wes Lee.
“And then [Shawn] was like, ‘Hey, Dom is needed back on the main roster.’ Poor guy was working six days a week. So I think that was a plan. Was it a surprise? No, because I saw WWE stock and WWE in general going this way [up], and my stock just going this way [down].”
READ MORE: Mustafa Ali Comments On Potentially Returning To WWE
What do you make of Mustafa Ali’s comments? Are you disappointed he never got a run with the NXT North American Championship? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
