WWE Has Been Pronouncing Mustafa Ali's Name WRONG For Years
So has everyone else, apparently...
Newsflash: There's a very good chance you've been pronouncing Mustafa Ali's name wrong for a long time now.
The man himself appeared on Raw Talk last week to reveal that everyone, including WWE announcers, have been flubbing his name for years. Phonetically, most would pronounce his name 'Muss-ta-fa'. According to Ali, that's woefully incorrect.
Oops.
He told both Charly Caruso and R-Truth that his WWE forename is actually pronounced 'Moos-tafa'; the final four letters almost run together, and the first part of the word has more of an 'oo' sound than 'uh'. Of course, commentators will continue to pronounce it the way they always have.
When he was quizzed by fans on social media asking why he let WWE get it wrong for so long, Ali said that he was simply terrified that people wouldn't get it. He was also scared that they'd remove the first part of his ring name completely, which actually happened for a brief spell.
They eventually changed it again and returned to the full Mustafa Ali moniker.
Now, Ali is determined to spread the word and make sure everyone pronounces it "Moos-tafa" rather than "Muss-ta-fa".