Mustafa Ali Has Left WWE

Highlights

• Mustafa Ali thrived in NXT and gained attention through his work with other wrestlers, but his frustrations with WWE's creative direction likely led to his departure.
• Despite being given a more prominent position and a title shot, Ali's time in WWE will be remembered as a wasted opportunity due to lack of matches and poor booking.
• It remains to be seen where Ali will go next, but he has the talent to become a star elsewhere, possibly in AEW.

Over the years, WWE has had many stars who had so much potential in the ring, and who fans got behind, but who never made much of a dent with the company. One of those names was Mustafa Ali. After not getting much traction on the main roster, Ali became a free agent in this year's draft and went to NXT. He's had a more prominent position on Tuesday nights, where weekly he has a match or at least a backstage segment, instead of disappearing for weeks or more like he'd do on the main roster. On just this past episode of NXT, Ali even announced that he'd be showing up at Raw next Monday to deal with Dominik Mysterio, who is scheduled to face Dragon Lee that night for the North American Championship. Ali is scheduled to face Mysterio at the NXT No Mercy event on September 30... or at least he was.

Shockingly, Mustfai Ali, real name Adeel Alam, took to Twitter this morning to announce that he is no longer with WWE. "I am no longer working with WWE. I look forward to the future. Thank you, -Adeel."

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Mustafa Ali Has Been Outspoken About His WWE Frustrations

Since moving to NXT, Mustafa Ali had thrived. His work with Tyler Bate, Wes Lee, and Dominik Mysterio put more attention on him. Many fans hoped this was a way of building him back up for an eventual return to the main roster.

While it's not known why Ali has quit WWE, it can be guessed that it has to do with his booking frustrations. It would appear something happened after NXT on Tuesday, where suddenly Dragon Lee was pushed above him for a storyline title shot, that might have been the last straw. Ali has been very vocal over the years about his unhappiness with his creative direction in WWE. Last year he tweeted out that he wanted WWE to release him, which was a bold public step. As he told Corey Graves later on After the Bell, “For me to even get to that point, that’s the issue... Imagine how much it would take for me to try to leave. So I think that’s the conversation. That’s the hot topic." He said that "there was no other option" and “it’s incredible the things that you’ll do when your back is against the wall and you’re fighting for survival."

It appeared that WWE heard him by giving him a more prominent position in NXT, and now giving him a title shot against the most over heel in the business, but Mustafa Ali's time in WWE will now always be remembered as a wasted opportunity, from his lack of matches, to the horrible booking of Retribution. Perhaps we will see him next in AEW. Wherever he goes, he has all the talent in the world to be a star.