Unfortunately for Mustafa Ali, his WrestleMania 37 plans aren't as involved as he had hoped.
Speaking with Metro.co.uk, the former RETRIBUTION leader shared how the idea was presented to WWE for him to face Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania. The two have a history dating back to 2019 when Kofi replaced Ali in the Elimination Chamber Match after he had suffered an injury. This eventually paved the way for the New Day member to go-on and win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35.
Ali, who referenced Kingston stealing his moment during a promo earlier in the year, added the following:
"The story was presented and I really thought that was the direction we might be going for in this year’s WrestleMania... Again, like I said, things change and other things take priority sometimes. We almost got to it, so I will try to get to it again. There’s so much real emotion that I can just bring up and bring out in promos leading to that match... When we do do it, I hope we’re allowed to do it right because I feel like it’d be one hell of a story."
Believing it to be a ready-made story, Ali notes how everyone can relate to having a job promotion taken from them. He also used song lyrics as a comparison, saying this:
"Those become our favourite songs – same thing about these stories... When we can do something where you relate to, and you go, 'I know how that guy felt or how she feels, or this is what I would’ve done' – that’s how we hook people."
Ali concluded by saying that he doesn't know exactly how it would have played out, but had he not been injured, the plan was to position him as the next breakout star going into Elimination Chamber. He even says that there's an argument to be made that his career never quite recovered after that.
Ali will take part in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the WrestleMania edition of SmackDown, while Kofi will be defending the Raw Tag Team Titles at the event versus AJ Styles and Omos.
Fightful will have live coverage of WrestleMania 37 on both Saturday, April 10 and Sunday, April 11, 2021.
