WWE Star Reveals They Are "No Longer" With The Company
Mustafa Ali is "no longer" with WWE.
The age of social media has drastically changed the professional wrestling industry, particularly in the way that talent communicate with fans. Wrestlers express both their gratitude and frustrations with the business in real time, giving the general public an up-to-date insight regarding how they feel about current storylines and the industry as a whole. As a result, many wrestlers have been completely transparent in regards to their contract statuses, with stars like Andrade El Idolo and FTR publicly confirming reports that they had asked for their WWE releases. One star who has been crystal clear about his feelings towards his WWE role has been Mustafa Ali, as the former cruiserweight has cited frustrations with how he has been used and has also requested his release on occasion.
Mustafa Ali Exits WWE
Taking to Twitter, Mustafa Ali revealed he is "no longer" working for WWE.
"I am [no] longer working with WWE. I look forward to the future," Ali wrote. "Thank you."
This ends a seven-year run for Ali with WWE. He first debuted for the company as a participant in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic tournament back in 2016 and would go on to be a consistent member of WWE 205 Live. Himself and Cedric Alexander cemented themselves as the "heart and soul" of that brand and went on to face each other for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at WWE WrestleMania 34.
Later that year, Ali wrestled Daniel Bryan on an episode of WWE SmackDown and impressed enough to become a full-fledged member of the roster. He rode a wave of momentum heading into WWE WrestleMania 35 season, but an ill-timed injury resulted in him being removed from the WWE Elimination Chamber premium live event's titular title match. Ali was replaced by Kofi Kingston, who went on to have one of the headlining matches at WWE WrestleMania 35 when he defeated Bryan for the WWE Championship.
Ali's most infamous WWE role came as the leader of RETRIBUTION during the pandemic era. This faction of disgruntled stars would wreak havoc on the WWE ThunderDome and attack various members of the roster, but when the bell rang, they never won any matches. After that group fizzled out, Ali resumed working his previous gimmick.
In January 2022, Ali publicly requested his release from WWE but it was ultimately denied. He went on to compete on the occasional Monday Night Raw episodes before finding new life in NXT. He had been pursuing the NXT North American Championship but never got his hands on the gold.