Backstage Update On MISSING WWE Star's Status
Where in the world is this absent WWE star right now? Not on television, anyway...
Mustafa Ali is missing from WWE television at the moment.
The 35-year-old hasn't appeared onscreen since the 29 October episode of SmackDown, having been drafted from Raw the previous week. Two-minute squash losses to partner-turned-rival Mansoor (22 October) and Drew McIntyre (29) set him off on a planned period of paternity leave under less-than-glorious circumstances - and the former RETRIBUTION leader is yet to return.
Per Fightful Select, Ali's paternity leave has now finished. WWE had originally sent him home for this early, with the promotion seemingly not seeing fit to bring him back for last week's SmackDown in Chicago, Illinois - Ali's hometown.
Ali wasn't at the show, which saw WWE not only shoot last week's SmackDown live, but also pretape this week's Christmas Eve episode afterwards. Per Fightful, the promotion simply didn't have anything planned for Mustafa in his home city.
The same outlet reported in November that Ali was originally scheduled to return at Survivor Series 2021 (21 November). This ended up not happening as WWE decided it already had enough wrestlers for the night's Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnston tribute battle royal.
Mustafa and wife Uzma welcomed daughter Dua into the world on 24 November. There is currently no word on when Ali will be back in WWE.