Mustafa Ali reflects on WWE NXT promo, advice from Shawn Michaels
Mustafa Ali addressed his recent return to NXT during an interview with Denise Salcedo.
Ali confronted NXT North American Champion Ethan Page on Tuesday’s show, setting up a title match between the two at NXT vs. TNA Showdown next week. During the segment, Ali mentioned he had earned a shot at the North American title in 2023 but was released from the company before the match could take place.
Ali told Salcedo that he initially wanted to do a version of the promo more in line with his current character, but Shawn Michaels talked him into being more authentic with it.
Ali said:
“It wasn’t that I wasn’t comfortable with it, it’s just that I feel like I’ve said this before and I’m at a stage in my career, especially with TNA, where I feel like I’ve presented this politician, 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 (his current character).”
Michaels later pulled him aside and said he should go with the original plan.
“He pulled me aside with the writer. He goes, ‘I’m telling you, you got to be real on this one. You got to let people know what happened. You got to trust me on this. Start off how you want, but then midway through just take the mask off and look him dead in the eye and tell everybody what happened.’ He’s like, ‘I’m telling you, you got to trust me.'”
Ali continued to say he thought Michaels was wrong up until he was actually delivering the promo and could feel the reaction from the live audience.
“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 like everyone felt that was real.”
“So when I came back, I looked at Shawn, I go, ‘You were right.'”
Ali’s full interview with Denise Salcedo is available below. His comments about returning to NXT and his promo on Tuesday come in around the 9-minute 27-second mark.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.