Released WWE Superstar reveals controversial reason why his storyline ideas were rejected

WWE experienced some of its most historic growth during the infamous Attitude Era. The PG era kicked off in July 2008, and the product was toned down. Officials only recently began booking edgier storylines, but one superstar who was let go revealed unique insight into the pitching and denying of creative ideas.

Mustafa Ali was with World Wrestling Entertainment from June 2016 until his release on September 21, 2023. The current TNA X-Division Champion had several different creative roles, including the leader of the Retribution faction. The star was known to pitch his own ideas at times and often shared these ideas with fans on social media.

Ali has been on per-appearance deals with TNA and NJPW while also working for other promotions. He began pushing his "In Ali We Trust" campaign gimmick after his WWE departure. While speaking to Pro Wrestling Illustrated, he revealed that he once pushed the same character to WWE officials, but they wanted to stay away from anything religious or political.

Ali recalled how he first came up with the idea while working on 205 Live from 2016 - 2018.

"So the vision [for current character] was brewing in my head since actually the cruiserweight division in the 205 Live days, and there was a couple of instances throughout WWE where you would see, kind of, examples of this character or pitches to this character or maybe one promo would pop up. But eventually, it would get shut down because the general logic with WWE was they don’t do anything political or religious, you know?"

Ali continued, pointing out that the character is not political. The 38-year-old said this was where he and the WWE creative team had a disconnect.

"Now that the character’s kind of up and running, I think people can see that there’s nothing political about it. It’s just the nuances of a politician; campaigns, protests, being voted, etc, speeches. I’m not saying anything political, and I feel that’s where the disconnect was with creative and myself so I have been thinking about this concept for years," Mustafa Ali said. [H/T POST Wrestling]

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Mustafa Ali expected his WWE release

Mustafa Ali debuted for World Wrestling Entertainment in the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic and stayed with the company until his release in 2023 due to budget cuts.

The release came just months after Ali was sent back to NXT. Speaking to Straight Talk Wrestling, the 38-year-old said he expected the departure to come, and he had no emotional sadness associated with the career change.

"Expected, but there was no emotional sadness associated with it. I’m a very business-oriented person. I know what I’m capable of. WWE is a huge entity, it’s a promotional machine, and oftentimes what happens is, guys at the top of the card are in those positions for a reason. Obviously, we always hear about the revenue, breaking records, so they obviously know what they’re doing. I as an individual always believe in the mantra of, ‘If you really believe in it, you’re willing to bet on yourself,’ and I was willing to bet on myself a year and a half or two years ago, whenever it was, and that’s all it really came down to."

Mustafa Ali went on to claim that he took the pro wrestling industry over in just two months of being on his own. He also said betting on himself has already paid dividends, and he's excited about what the future holds.