Mustafa Ali made an appearance on today’s episode of WWE’s The Bump where he discussed his time off WWE television and recent return.
Up until last month, Ali hadn’t been used on television since January although many fans thought he was behind the hacker storyline that played out for a few months only to be dropped without an explanation.
Ali returned for two matches on Raw by scoring a win in his first match back and then squashed by Bobby Lashley. He wasn’t used on Monday’s episode of Raw, but rather worked the Main Event TV tapings.
“As far as adaptation, it’s hard because you can’t adapt without opportunity, right? If you don’t have the opportunity, if you’re not given a platform, if you’re not included in the discussion, it’s hard. You could be the best in the world, but if you’re sitting in a dark room and no one sees you, no one sees you.
The thing that I’m carrying forward with it is I will always be ready, I will always be prepared, so when that opportunity comes, I’m gonna hit a home run. But I need to be called up to bat. That is not me complaining at all. The thing that I am craving for, the thing that I am asking for, the thing that I want, is to tell a story. I could sit here and tell everybody, I have not had that opportunity yet.”
Ali later noted, “Time off is hard when it’s not your choice. It’s one thing to be injured, it’s one thing to be…whatever the situation is. I was off simply because I was off and at that time…I want people to understand that this isn’t someone who’s mad. This is someone who is so passionate and wants to perform and is trying to figure out why he’s not loved and there’s no real explanation. To anybody who’s passionate about something you can understand how frustrating that can be.”
You can watch the entire interview by clicking on the player below:
