Mustafa Ali Reveals President Of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority Contacted Vince McMahon To Get Ali Added To 2023 WWE Night Of Champions PLE

Ali connects his addition to the card to what Brock Lesnar said to him on TV.

WWE Monday Night Raw’s go-home show ahead of the 2023 Night of Champions Premium Live Event featured a moment involving Brock Lesnar and Mustafa Ali. Lesnar walked past Ali in Gorilla Position and told him, ‘Go get a life, kid.’

Ali told Chris Van Vliet that the line from Lesnar was a veiled shot from a WWE higher-up. That weekend, Ali was scheduled to challenge GUNTHER for the Intercontinental Title at the aforementioned PLE.

Ali was not originally scheduled for the show, but he revealed that while he was doing promotion for the PLE, the President of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority personally got in contact with Vince McMahon to get Ali added to the lineup. McMahon was involved with WWE at the time, as Endeavor had acquired WWE the month prior.

Ali said his addition to the card was not well recieved and circling back to the moment with Lesnar, he did not know Lesnar was going to say that to him. After it happened, there was silence in Gorilla Position.

“So, it’s a little twofold, right? So I get that it was really funny but if I tell you guys the real story, you’re gonna feel really, really sad so I’ll share what I can. You know what? The thing is I would tell you guys but I don’t want people to get in trouble. That was a shot at me from someone very high up, and not directly at me. The backstory of this and I’ll keep it to this so I hope you guys can understand. I was sent to go do media, public relations for an upcoming event in Saudi Arabia called Night of Champions. So I go there — I’m not on the show — I’m just going as token Brown guy. So I’m going there to make everybody happy… You’re always gonna relate to someone that looks you, right? So I do these little events and obviously, I’m very appreciative of the turnout here but the turnout there was insane. They were expecting 500 people. There was like 3,000 people. So the guy’s looking at me, he’s like, ‘Oh, this Mustafa Ali, maybe he does the show,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s the Night of Champions. You have to be a champion to be on the show. I’m not a champion,’ and I didn’t realize I was talking to like the President of the G.E.A., which is this General Entertainment Authority that basically runs the shows in Saudi Arabia and he goes, ‘You leave it to me. I talk to Vince,’ and I go, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ He goes, ‘No, no, no. I’m going to request that you’re on the show.’ I think what happened was someone told Vince (McMahon) what to do, and he’s like, ‘Oh, okay.’ So the whole day, I could sense the nervous tension about something was gonna happen and I had this promo… But I’m reading it, and it was like, and then what happens? They go, ‘Well, Brock’s just gonna walk by’ and I go, ‘Yeah?’ And last second, you know — let me ask you guys this question… When someone’s doing a backstage interview, where does it happen? Backstage. Not right by the Gorilla entrance. So they go last second — I’m getting ready — ‘Oh, we’re moving the shot to Gorilla now’ and I go, right, okay, here it comes. So I didn’t know he was gonna say that. So when he said that and he walked off, there was this dead silence because everyone that worked — they knew what happened… They’re trying to send a message. But it’s like, why does it have to be at my expense? So it was just one of those things, I think, because of the frustration and because of what had happened, I think that’s why Shawn (Michaels) had reached out to Hunter about NXT because right after that is when I made my NXT appearance but, again, not to cry over that. It is what it is. The cookie’s gonna crumble the way it crumbles. When I look at WWE, I know that I knocked on every door and I presented every idea, I never said no for the most part, and I did good work. I’m never gonna look in the mirror and be like, oh man, I failed. I talked to a lot of my peers that have unfortunately got let go, while I was still (there), and I go, ‘Are you doing okay?’ And they all said the same thing. They go, ‘Man, I just wish I tried a little harder. I wish I wasn’t mad and did this.’ I go, ‘When I got let go, I just go, well, there was nothing else I could have done.’ I tried everything; comedy, serious, being the little guy, this guy, whatever the hell. So I walked away with that, and then, when Brock (Lesnar) said, ‘Go get a life, kid,’ and I quite literally did that. I’m the f*cking man now.”

Vince McMahon is at the center of two sexual abuse lawsuits. He is facing a sex trafficking lawsuit from former WWE employee Janel Grant, and he and Linda McMahon are in the midst of the WWF ring boys suit.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.