Mustafa Ali reveals he almost quit wrestling before WWE
Mustafa Ali was recently revealed as the leader of RETRIBUTION on RAW. Ali is one of the most promising Superstars on the red brand, beating Ricochet last week on WWE RAW in a singles match. Although there have been some question marks about his RETRIBUTION have been booked as a whole, Ali has impressed both on the mic and in the ring.
Mustafa Ali on how close he came to quitting wrestling before WWE
Mustafa Ali was recently a guest on Corey Graves' podcast After The Bell. During the interview, Ali revealed how close he had come to quitting wrestling before getting his big break in the Cruiserweight Classic:
The Cruiserweight Classic was a tumultuous thing for me. It was that typical indie wrestler moment that we’ve all, anyone that’s you know, done this can understand. I thought this was the year that I’m going to hang up the boots, or the kick pads, or whatever you want to call them because I wasn’t getting any traction. A lot of my friends were blowing up on the indie scene. And like you mentioned, I was a police officer at the time. So traveling all over the world, doing these tours in the UK and Japan just [wasn’t] feasible. The number one thing for me at that time was providing for my family, as a man should. So my dream came second.
Mustafa Ali also spoke about getting into the Cruiserweight Classic, saying that he emailed WWE right on time:
Luckily, I just emailed WWE at the right time or the right place, not knowing that there was a Cruiserweight Classic. At the time it was called the Global Cruiserweight Tournament, or something like that. So I just emailed at the right time and the right place. H/T: 411Mania
Ali revealed that WWE replied to him and told him that they had a spot for him. NXT General Manager William Regal also called Ali to explain the whole process. Ali was initially an alternate for the tournament but ended up replacing Brazlian wrestler Zumbi who had visa issues and could not compete.