This Star Was Due To Win A Title Prior To Recent WWE Release

Prior to their recent release, this star was to win some WWE gold.

By Andrew Pollard / October 3, 2023

WWE

Prior to his recent WWE release, Mustafa Ali was scheduled to win his first piece of gold with the company.

Per Fightful Select, Ali was set to win the NXT North American Championship at this past weekend's No Mercy PLE.

Mustafa was originally announced to face Dominik Mysterio for the North American Title at that event, before Ali was part of WWE's 21 September round of releases. In his place, Trick Williams took on Dirty Dom to become the new North American Champion.

This follows reports that NXT officials were left frustrated by some of these releases, with Mustafa Ali being someone who the brand was particularly disappointed to see let go.

This new Fightful story notes how NXT had tentative creative plans in place for Ali through until March 2024. In the immediate future, those plans included the 37-year-old costing Dragon Lee his match against Mysterio on the 25 September episode of WWE Raw, which in turn would've set up Mysterio vs. Lee vs. Ali in a triple-threat North American Title bout at No Mercy; a triple-threat where Ali would've been the victor.

Due to being under a main roster contract, Mustafa Ali is currently serving out a 90-day non-compete period.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 3rd Oct 2023

In this post:

Mustafa Ali