WWE Star Explains Real Reason For Name Change

WWE

WWE star Mustafa Ali has explained why WWE previously chose to change his name to just ‘Ali’, revealing the reason WWE gave him.

After wrestling for WWE as Mustafa Ali from 2016, the popular star lost his first name in March 2019, before regaining it that November.

Speaking with Sportskeeda, Ali has noted that WWE changed his name in order to unify fan chants.

Recalling his reaction to his name change, Ali said:

“You just roll with the punches. The biggest thing in WWE, and I think in entertainment in general, maybe life in general, is that I think people take things too personally.

“There’s a personal attachment to my name, right? Mustafa. It means something to me, but it wasn’t like they just sat around and said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna mess with this guy.’ It was a calculated decision.

“I went and asked why. I said, ‘I’m not fighting it, just why?’ So, what happened was, during the time I was a good guy, on the live events, as the fans wanted to cheer for me, one half of the fans started chanting ‘Mustafa’ and the other half started chanting ‘Ali’ and they just couldn’t get on the same page, and this happened over and over and over again.”

Ali most recently wrestled on the May 8 edition of WWE Raw, defeating Otis in singles action.

Following the WWE Draft, Ali is now a free agent, so can compete for either Raw or SmackDown.

Here are results from the Friday, May 12 episode of WWE SmackDown:

AJ Styles def. Edge, Rey Mysterio in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

Bobby Lashley def. Austin Theory, Sheamus in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

Grayson Waller appeared in a backstage segment with Adam Pearce and announced the winner of the Styles vs Lashley main event would appear on his Grayson Waller Effect talk show next week

Cameron Grimes def. Baron Corbin

Roman Reigns made his first appearance since WrestleMania 39 and said that Solo Sikoa has stepped up, but the Usos are a problem and that they embarrassed him

Paul Heyman then announced Reigns and Sikoa would be challenging Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia

Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez def. Bayley & Dakota Kai to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

Former NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly made their SmackDown debut backstage, setting up a match against the Brawling Brutes for next week

Bianca Belair appeared for a ‘celebration’ in her hometown of Knoxville, but was interrupted by a returning Asuka who spat mist in Belair’s face

AJ Styles def. Bobby Lashley in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

Transcription via Sportskeeda. 

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