Mustafa Ali has been officially thrust into the spotlight by emerging as the leader of Retribution. I thought it might turn out to be Kevin Owens since he wasn’t doing much other than getting involved in others’ storylines (which felt somewhat forced). But it doesn’t matter anymore because Owens is oscillating between storylines with Alexa Bliss/The Fiend and Aleister Black but that’s a different story for a different day.
Ali was somewhat involved but not deeply embroiled in the storyline involving Ricochet and Apollo Crews and The Hurt Business. It felt as though Ali was serving as a puppet for Ricochet and Crews to call on when they needed backup against MVP’s stable. This is the situation Mustafa has been in since July 2020 when he was moved to over to Raw from SmackDown.
Let’s retrace our steps now. To do this effectively, we need to go all the way back to the Cruiserweight Classic tournament (called by Daniel Bryan – more on him later in this article) in 2016. Mustafa Ali was defeated in the first round of this tournament, but it materialized into something when he debuted on 205 Live in December 2016. Ali served as one of the top superstars on 205 Live for about two years on the brand, earning multiple matches for the title – including one at WrestleMania 34 (2018) vs. Cedric Alexander and another at Survivor Series 2018 vs. Buddy Murphy (before his name was shortened to just Murphy).
At the end of 2018, Daniel Bryan (the WWE Champion at the time) was fervently asking management to introduce a “hot young babyface” on SmackDown because all the faces who were featured in prominent roles were on the cusp of 40 years old. Mr. McMahon complied with Daniel Bryan’s request because of the level of respect Bryan has earned over the years and Mustafa Ali was brought up to the main roster in December 2018. Elimination Chamber 2019 was an interesting event – KofiMania started there, but that was not even the original plan. The only reason Kofi Kingston was placed in the match is that Ali, who was originally supposed to be in the match, suffered a legitimate injury. It all worked out for the best so it’s neither here nor there.
On March 25, 2019, after a great WWE Championship match at Fastlane, Mustafa Ali’s ring name was shortened to just Ali. For whatever reason, in the last 10 years Mr. McMahon has developed a stigma about having to shorten people’s names (like Antonio Cesaro, Big E Lamgston, Andrade “Cien” Almas, Elias Samsen and Buddy Murphy to name a few). It works for most, but with Ali it took away from the uniqueness of his presentation a little. Ali appeared in the Money in the Bank ladder match, receiving an Intercontinental Championship match as well as competing in the King of the Ring tournament with this name, but it did not stick as he was given the name Mustafa back in November 2019.
Ali was subsequently taken off TV for about nine months before appearing on Monday Night Raw for the first time in his career on July 20, 2020. He struggled to gain momentum for a few months before ultimately turning heel and being revealed as the leader of Retribution (we now know exactly why Ali handed down the offer to join The Hurt Business). This change in character for Mustafa Ali could be exactly what he needs to become a cornerstone member of the WWE main roster. An observer and intuitive member of the WWE universe might have discerned that he might ultimately become a primary attraction based on his tenure as a top cruiserweight.