WWE Replaces Rey Mysterio In SmackDown's World Cup

A WWE Raw star was brought over to SmackDown as a replacement for Rey Mysterio.

by Jamie Kennedy
Mustafa Ali
WWE.com

WWE has decided to replace Rey Mysterio in the SmackDown World Cup brackets by drafting over Mustafa Ali from Raw.

Naturally, this needs an explanation (why is a Raw star eligible for the thing when it's a SmackDown-branded trophy?), but fans shouldn't expect to get one from WWE; commentator Michael Cole didn't even try to justify why Ali has suddenly taken Mysterio's spot in the tourney.

Rey would've represented Mexico in the thing, but Mustafa will now take his place in an opening round match vs. Ricochet on next week's episode. Again, it seems WWE will ignore their own brand rules just to fill a spot in the brackets.

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The SmackDown World Cup opened with two matches on Friday's show. Santos Escobar beat Shinsuke Nakamura, and then Braun Strowman toppled the returning Jinder Mahal. WWE didn't reveal exactly who Escobar or Braun would face in the semi finals of the tournament, which is interesting.

Typically, the company would flash some updated brackets on-screen after each match. Maybe they don't really have a settled line up of matches for the tourney quite yet and want to keep that quiet for now.

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Again though, Ali has replaced Rey Mysterio.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.