10 Wrestlers Who Have Been Swept Under The Rug
1. Mustafa Ali
When discussing the abhorrent misuse of Mustafa Ali by WWE, it's always worth remembering that Kofi-Mania was never supposed to happen. In fact, it was the Chicago native who was penned in to face 'The New' Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania that year.
But a cruel concussion denied Ali the opportunity, and when he returned, Kofi-Mania was in full swing.
Instead of sticking the course with Ali and positioning him as a top babyface, WWE inexplicably turned him heel and put him at the head of RETRIBUTION. Oh, there was also the SmackDown hacker thing that also had no pay off.
Woefully miscast in the role of a heel, Ali floundered badly, publicly asked for his release and was swiftly refused it. For a while, it felt like he would suffer a fate similar to PAC, where he would sit out an entire year, but earlier this year, Ali made his return to WWE, and more excitingly, as a babyface.
He lost. Almost weekly. And got beaten down by Ciampa. Then disappeared again.
It's pretty clear that Ali will never be treated as the star his promo and in-ring ability deserve, and the former Heart of the Cruiserweight Division deserves so much more.
Mustafa made another surprise return on this week's RAW, confronting Bobby Lashley before valiantly losing to the WWE United States Champion. Whether this is a serious attempt by Triple H to use Ali as a real player on RAW or he just needed a warm body, is anyone's guess.
Given the previous treatment over the past few years, don't hold your breath.