Mustafa Ali was the first WWE talent to announce he was no longer with WWE before the mass releases across the main roster and NXT happened last week.
Those cut from the main roster including Dolph Ziggler, Mustafa Ali, Elias, Shelton Benjamin, Riddick Moss, Emma, Aliyah, “Top Dolla” AJ Francis, while those from NXT, Quincy Elliott, Shanky, Bryson Montana, Yulisa Leon, Dabba-Kato, Kevin Ventura-Cortez, Alexis Gray, Daniel McArthur were cut. Click here for the full list of main roster WWE releases.
Ali had requested his release a couple of years ago when Vince McMahon was running creative, but the company denied his request. He had been working in NXT in recent months and had reinvented himself.
He had been slated to challenge Dominik Mysterio for the North American Title this Saturday at NXT No Mercy. Dominik will instead be defending the title against Trick Williams.
Fightful Select had reported that there was some frustration from NXT’s end over not having proper communication with WWE higher-ups regarding the releases and how NXT has been attempting to stack the brand with familiar names.
During the NXT No Mercy media call, Shawn Michaels said that losing Ali changed some of his plans, that he enjoyed working with Ali, and that he will miss him.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the decision to release Ali was a late one.
Meltzer wrote, ”Regarding Ali being on television and pushing him for a match with Dominik Mysterio on 9/30 and then cutting him, it was said that there were names on the bubble and names that were going to be cut. He was in the former category but the decision was made late to cut him.”
