Straight Talk Wrestling and Sunday Night’s Main Event Radio’s George Mckay was recently joined by former WWE star and current TNA Wrestling Star Mustafa Ali. In the chat they discuss finally getting the release from WWE, why TNA was the right choice for him, dream match ups, political conspiracies, betting on himself and more.
Highlights from the conversation are below:
Mustafa Ali on finally being released by WWE:
“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.”
On promoters telling him they haven’t sold as many tickets since Cody Rhodes worked the indies:
“So to have that comparison and look where he’s at. Literally the top of the business, heading into WrestleMania, the talk of the industry and deservingly so and Cody was a guy that I take a lot of inspiration from and what I mean by that is what set this all up was the launch of my campaign video which was released on December 21.”
On taking inspiration from Cody Rhodes to create his political videos:
“The concept behind it was who was the last guy that really made that impact of like, what’s gonna happen? And this is when Cody Rhodes released the list and I remember everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, these dream matches, but where? And how? How are we gonna see them?’ And I go, ‘What’s the 2024 Mustafa Ali version of the list?’ So the campaign video came about, calling out guys like Will Ospreay and ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey and (El Hijo del) Vikingo and (Matt) Cardona and all these notable names. And what happened is it became a frenzy of people wondering how is this gonna go and where is he gonna go? Where is this gonna happen? And it’s happening, it’s happening so a marketing campaign well done.”
On the impact he has made over the last two months:
“I know what I’m capable of. In two months, I’ve already taken over the industry, sold-out show after sold-out show. I can’t keep up [with the] merchandise. It’s like the hottest free agent in the world right now, and that’s in 60 days. So I bet on myself, it’s already paid dividends, and I’m excited for what the future holds.”
You can watch the entire interview over at Straight Talk Wrestling’s YouTube channel or listen to the latest episode of Sunday Night’s Main Event here.
RELATED LINK
- Jan. 16, 2022: Mustafa Ali requests WWE release
