A last-minute change was made to a WWE return segment, with a TNA Wrestling star making his comeback on NXT.
The September 30 episode of NXT saw a return for Mustafa Ali two years after his WWE release, setting up a match for the North American Championship at the upcoming Showdown crossover special.
In September 2023, Ali parted ways with WWE, mere days before his planned NXT No Mercy match for that same championship against Dominik Mysterio.
This set of circumstances would play into Ali’s promo on NXT, with the TNA Wrestling star mentioning in the promo the number of days he had been gone for.
Speaking with Adrian Hernandez, Ali revealed that Shawn Michaels made an amendment to his promo segment, adding the line where he said the number.
Reflecting on the moment, Ali explained:
“I’ll be honest with you, man, I’m a very, very passionate individual, but I am not good with dates and numbers. I think I actually got the number wrong.
“This whole concept came from one Shawn Michaels, and as I was getting ready to go out, he insisted that I say the actual numbers. I think he said 792 and I said 740… I should’ve just said over 700 days, but when someone throws something at you last minute… I didn’t know but once they brought it up, it was kind of a combination of ‘this is what we’re thinking’ and I said ‘Oh, but this is the story behind it.’
“That’s the great thing about NXT, specifically Shawn Michaels and the head writers there, they’ll listen to your feedback and if it fits, if it makes sense, if they can see what you see…”
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With a seven-year run in WWE, Ali was unable to capture any NXT or main roster gold, but would go on to be X Division Champion in TNA Wrestling.
He re-signed with TNA Wrestling in January, after making his debut a year prior.
Ali has previously stated that he has ‘good relations‘ with WWE following the aforementioned departure.
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