Released superstar could be headed to AEW because of his relationship with Bryan Danielson - Reports
Former WWE Champion Bryan Danielson chose to join AEW after his contract expired. He is now a member of the Blackpool Combat Club faction of AEW.
Out of the multiple superstars who were let go by WWE in the past few days, there is a strong chance that Mustafa Ali will join AEW because of his association with Daniel Bryan.
Mustafa Ali was well on his NXT journey, and was set to face Dominik Mysterio for the North American Championship at No Mercy. However, the former 205Live superstar was let go by WWE, and no one saw it coming. However, reports have surfaced which claim that Ali wanted to leave and the release was out of mutual agreement.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer stated that Danielson was high on Ali when he was in WWE. This could be a major factor in AEW signing Ali because Danielson has backstage pull in AEW, and it is believed that he is not just an on-screen talent but has creative control as well.
''Ali is a strong in ring talent who talks well, and would be someone I could see ending up in AEW, particularly since Bryan Danielson has been high on him. Danielson had picked Ali to work with for the WWE title on PPV in early 2019 but he was injured by Randy Orton,'' stated Meltzer
How Bryan Danielson helped Mustafa Ali in WWE
The wrestling world is blessed with a number of altruistic Superstars who contribute to the growth of professional wrestling by mentoring aspiring talent.
Among these iconic figures is Bryan Danielson, who has provided guidance to emerging stars behind the scenes in WWE and AEW. He has actively contributed to their evolution as performers. Here is what Mustafa Ali told Corey Graves in 2020:
''Bryan being as gracious as he always is, made sure that I made an impact. And that's another guy man, he'll never really confirm to me what happened, and then yeah I made the most of that opportunity and that turned into coming back into TV the next week and then being told there that 'hey, you're no longer on 205, you're a full-time member of SmackDown."
Despite being with the company since 2016, Ali was never truly part of the zeitgeist. Though he was pushed multiple times, the stop-start nature of his booking led to fans losing interest.
Do you think Ali will end up joining AEW? Sound off in the comments section.