Mustafa Ali Reveals Canceled Plans for a WrestleMania Grudge Match

Back in January Mustafa Ali and Kofi Kingston had one of the best feuds going on Monday Night Raw, [...]

Back in January Mustafa Ali and Kofi Kingston had one of the best feuds going on Monday Night Raw, carried almost exclusively by the video promos the pair kept firing at each other on social media. Kingston was out with an injury at the time, so Ali kept having members of Retribution attack Kingston's New Day tag partner Xavier Woods. The storyline centered around Ali still blaming Kingston for replacing him in the 2019 Elimination Chamber WWE Championship match (a bout that eventually led to Kingston becoming WWE Champion at WreslteMania 35), but the program was dropped after Woods beat Ali on the Feb. 1 episode of Raw.

Ali then turned his attention to Riddle's United States Championship before getting booted from Retribution, while Kingston and Woods soon became 11-time tag team champions by beating Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin for the Raw tag titles. Even though they never wound up meeting in a one-on-one bout, Ali told Metro on Sunday that WWE originally pitched having a grudge match with Kingston at WrestleMania 37.

'"The story was presented and I really thought that was the direction we might be going for in this year's WrestleMania," Ali said. "Again, like I said, things change and other things take priority sometimes. We almost got to it, so I will try to get to it again. There's so much real emotion that I can just bring up and bring out in promos leading to that match. When we do do it, I hope we're allowed to do it right because I feel like it'd be one hell of a story."

In an interview with ComicBook last month Ali revealed that he had to tryout backstage in order for WWE to turn him heel, and that he didn't know he was joining Retribution until the day of. He also confirmed he's been dealing with a torn PCL for several weeks, but stated on Twitter that it won't require surgery.

Instead of appearing at WrestleMania 37, Ali will take part in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on this week's WrestleMania-themed episode of SmackDown. Meanwhile, Kingston and Woods will defend their tag titles against AJ Styles and Omos on Night One of WrestleMania.

Check out the full card for WrestleMania below:

Night One

  • WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre
  • SmackDown Women's Championship: Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair
  • Raw Tag Team Championships: The New Day vs. AJ Styles & Omos
  • Bad Bunny vs. The Miz
  • Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon (Steel Cage)
  • Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins

Night Two

  • WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan
  • Intercontinental Championship: Big E vs. Apollo Crews (Nigerian Drum Fight)
  • United States Championship: Riddle vs. Sheamus
  • Raw Women's Championship: Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley
  • Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
  • The Fiend vs. Randy Orton
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