10 WWE Booking Steps To Save The Members Of RETRIBUTION
5. Mustafa Ali Just Has Good Matches
Now back on SmackDown, Mustafa Ali has to simply do what he does best; put on memorable matches with just about anyone.
When he was first called up to SmackDown at the tail-end of 2018, it came out of the blue really, but we soon realised why. He was bloody mint. The stuff he was doing vs. Daniel Bryan, Andrade, AJ Styles, and several others were some of the best matches in recent SmackDown history.
Just by going back to his original SmackDown roots, Ali can be reinvented. Again, he shouldn't turn babyface just because he's having excellent matches week after week, but it will be heavily teased. Have him face Cesaro, Seth Rollins, Aleister Black, Sami Zayn, anyone who can give him a true in-ring test. They can show respect to each other post-match, but ultimately, Ali remains a babyface for now.
By this point, we'll be heading nicely into 2022 with Ali as one of the top contenders in the Intercontinental Championship picture, a title that he shouldn't win quite yet, although he should come very close to dethroning whoever the champion is (fingers crossed for Cesaro) at whichever pay-per-view we're at (let's say Survivor Series). The mere thought of that match is tantalising in itself.