"I don’t know if you have it in you!" - Vince McMahon didn't trust a WWE Superstar to deliver on the main roster
WWE superstar Mustafa Ali recently revealed a difficult conversation he had with Vince McMahon.
Last year, Ali was revealed as the leader of RETRIBUTION, but the faction fell apart before it could make any impact. After a hiatus, Ali returned to WWE and teamed up with Mansoor before the two turned on each other, with Ali being the heel and Mansoor the babyface. Their rivalry culminated in a match that will be held at Crown Jewel.
In an interview with Alistair McGeorge of Metro, Ali opened up about the events leading up to his heel turn. He stated that he tried pitching new directions for his character, but none of them came to fruition.
"Even pre-pandemic, I was struggling to maintain television presence. When you pitch a million and one ideas as far as stories, characters, promos, this and that, and you always get told that you’re good, but then nothing happens, you start pointing the finger at everybody except for you. After sitting at home for seven months and then finally coming back to Monday Night RAW, only to pick up a few victories and then to go back to not being on Monday Night RAW and now being stuck on Main Event, you’re kinda scratching your head," Ali said.
He added that after numerous failed attempts, he finally decided to have a tough conversation with Vince McMahon. He asked Vince what he had to do to move up the ladder and be taken more seriously on the main roster. He asked McMahon what he was missing, and the latter said:
"Too polished, too clean, too nice... I don’t know if you have it in you!”
Obviously, it's not a pleasant thing to hear from your boss, but from the looks of things, Ali has been pulling up his socks to deliver better performances on WWE.
Mustafa Ali will face Mansoor at WWE Crown Jewel
After falling out with each other, Ali and Mansoor will face off at the Saudi event. After mounting a heinous attack on his former partner, Ali issued the challenge on RAW Talk.
بعد حرمان وغياب مدته حول السنتين، أخيرا بحس بأسعد وأهم ليلة في السنة بالنسبة لي. ولأنكم انتم الجمهور، تأكدوا إني بعطيكم كل اللي عندي https://t.co/aAzsBPjYdf
though i wish some of the circumstances were different, i’m still thankful that for the first time ever two muslims will have a singles match on a wwe ppv. i’m thankful that for one night, @KSAMANNY and i get to be what we wanted to see growing up. https://t.co/9Ym22RCNap
Ali and Mansoor are headed to SmackDown following the event. So it looks like their feud might carry on for a while. Considering the fact that Mansoor will be wrestling on home soil, it's possible that he might end up winning the bout with Ali getting back his win on the blue brand.