Mustafa Ali Says He's No Longer Under WWE Contract: 'I Look Forward to the Future'

Despite appearing on NXT this week and teasing an appearance on next week's Raw, Mustafa Ali announced Thursday that he is leaving WWE.

Ali made the announcement in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter:

He initially tweeted a typo, writing, "I am longer working with WWE," before clarifying that he is "no longer" working for WWE.

Ali had been scheduled to compete at the Sept. 30 NXT No Mercy premium live event, challenging Dominik Mysterio for the North American Championship.

After a lengthy run on WWE's main roster, Ali arrived in NXT in May, facing the likes of Joe Gacy, Tyler Bate and Axiom in matches.

On the Sept. 5 episode of NXT, Ali beat Dragon Lee to become the No. 1 contender for the North American Championship and earn a title shot against Mysterio at No Mercy.

On this week's Raw, Lee was ringside for Mysterio's match against Cody Rhodes, and it was announced that Mysterio would put the North American title on the line against Lee next week on Raw.

On Tuesday's NXT, Ali cut an in-character backstage promo complaining about Lee jumping the line, and he concluded the promo by saying he would "deal with" Mysterio and Lee on Raw:

Ali made his WWE debut as part of the Cruiserweight Classic tournament in 2016, which led to him becoming a mainstay on 205 Live.

In late 2018, Ali began appearing regularly on the main roster, and he quickly became a hugely popular babyface.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Corey Brennan of BodySlam.net) reported that then-WWE champion Daniel Bryan pushed to face Ali at WrestleMania 35 in 2019, but when Ali got injured on the road to WrestleMania, Kofi Kingston subbed in and beat Bryan for the title.

Despite his in-ring ability and charisma, Ali never got close to that level again, and in January 2022, he requested his release from the company.

WWE did not grant the request, and Ali returned to TV in April 2022. He quickly became a contender for the United States Championship, but didn't win it.

At 37 years of age, the talented Ali still figures to have plenty of good years of wrestling ahead of him, meaning he should be of interest to essentially every other major wrestling company.

AEW always comes to mind as a landing spot when someone leaves WWE since it is the No. 2 promotion, but New Japan Pro-Wrestling could also be a great fit, as could Impact Wrestling since Ali would likely slot in as a top star immediately.

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