WWE Turned Down THIS "Perfect" Kofi Kingston WrestleMania 37 Match

Kofi Kingston wanted to reference WrestleMania history, but WWE said no.

by Jamie Kennedy
Mustafa Ali
WWE

WWE knocked back the chance to book Kofi Kingston vs. Mustafa Ali at WrestleMania 37.

Kingston called the scrapped pitch "perfect" during a chat with Metro, and the New Day man is still slightly annoyed that creative didn't want to do it; he pointed out that Ali's injury had paved the way for him to win the WWE Title from Daniel Bryan at 'Mania 35 two years prior.

That, to Kofi, would've been the ideal excuse to blow off their story once and for all by having Mustafa seek revenge. Vince McMahon said no, and that was that. He and "the office" (Kingston's words) didn't see value in the crunch one-on-one encounter.

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Ali has since requested to be released from his WWE contract. The SmackDown wrestler hasn't worked on the brand since losing to Drew McIntyre in a two-minute squash on the 29 October 2021 episode. There are also rumours that he had a backstage falling out with McMahon.

Kofi had intimated that he'd still be interested in working a singles bout opposite Mustafa in the future. That obviously won't happen in WWE if Ali's release is granted.

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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.