Mustafa Ali Was Set To Win Gold Prior To WWE Release

Mustafa Ali would have been the NXT North American Champion if he hadn’t been released from WWE.

On September 21st, Mustafa Ali was one of the first to announce he had been let go from the company in a round of cuts that saw over 20 stars lose their jobs.

The news came as a surprise to many as Ali had appeared on NXT TV only two days beforehand to continue a storyline with Dragon Lee and Dominik Mysterio that was building to the star challenging Dirty Dom for the North American Championship at No Mercy.

With Ali no longer in the company, plans were changed and Trick Williams challenged Mysterio instead and went on to win the title.

It has previously been reported that the decision to fire Ali had caused frustration on the NXT side, specifically due to the lack of communication between WWE and its developmental brand.

The release also meant NXT was down a well-known name and that the No Mercy match could no longer feature two main roster stars after there had been an effort to present more of a main roster presence on the brand.

Original plans called for Mustafa Ali to defeat Dominik Mysterio

Now, Fightful Select has reported that original plans would have seen Ali cost Lee a title match against Mysterio on the September 25th edition of Raw. This would have led to a Triple Threat match at No Mercy for the title featuring all three men, which Ali would have won.

While the aftermath of the match isn’t known, the report notes that Shawn Michaels had plans for Mustafa Ali going into 2024.