Mustafa Ali On WWE NXT Return: Shawn Michaels Told Me To Be Real, He Was Right

Mustafa Ali comments on his return to WWE NXT.

Mustafa Ali returned to WWE NXT on September 30 and picked up right where he left off, challenging for the WWE NXT North American Title. His promo confronting Ethan Page ahead of their match at WWE NXT vs. TNA Showdown referenced the unfortunate release Ali faced in 2023, just nine days before he was supposed to challenge for the WWE NXT North American Title at WWE NXT No Mercy.

Speaking with Denise Salcedo, Ali explained that he initially wanted his promo to be a little more in line with his character. However, while Shawn Michaels saw that vision, he also felt it was more important for Ali to be authentic, and in the end, Ali says HBK made the right call.

“I gotta be perfectly honest with you, that’s what the original idea was. When I got there, I kind of shied away from it. It wasn’t that I wasn’t comfortable with it. It’s just that I feel like I’ve said this before, I’m at a stage in my career, especially with TNA, where I feel like I’ve presented this, this politician, like a very powerful, very confident individual that kind of condescendingly weaves and snakes his way into the match. So when I got there, I did meet with Shawn, and I kind of pitched a different version of the same promo, but what I thought would be more in line with what I did. Initially, he was like, ‘Yeah, I kind of see it.’ Then I want to say it wasn’t that long before we’re on, he changed his mind, and he pulled me aside with the writer. He goes, ‘I’m telling you, you’ve got to be real on this one. You’ve got to let people know what happened. You’ve got to trust me on this. Start off how you want, but then midway through, just take the mask off and look him down in the eye and tell everybody what happened. I’m telling you. You’ve gotta trust me.’

“At the end of the day, Shawn Michaels tells you how he wants it, he wants it. I won’t lie. I thought he was wrong initially, and then I went out, and as I’m cutting the promo, I myself started to feel it, and there was this pin drop silence. I think I said something along the lines of, ‘My dream was on the horizon, but that day, Mr. Page, the sun did not rise,’ and you could just hear everyone felt that was real. Then, I went on to what happened, and the reaction afterwards, and them cheering, and even the chatter online afterwards. I think people genuinely, genuinely would be upset if I did not win. So when I came back, I looked at Shawn, I go, ‘You were right.’ It’s one of those things that even all this time in the game, I know me, but still, I’ll 100% say that was 100% Shawn. Shawn made the call, and he made the right call.”

Fans can check out the full card for WWE NXT vs. TNA Showdown here.

Check out the full interview embedded below.

If you use any portion of the quotes above, transcription credit should go to Fightful, with a H/T linking back to this article.