Mustafa Ali Reveals Why WWE Dropped His First Name

WWE Raw star Mustafa Ali, who is the leader of the RETRIBUTION faction, has revealed why WWE dropped his first name for several months in 2019.

He went from Mustafa Ali to just Ali, but by the end of the year got the Mustafa back. He took to Twitter to explain why the change was made to begin with.

Recently Ali has made sure everyone pronounces his name correctly (‘muh-stuh-fuh’ instead of ‘mooh-stah-fah’). A fan asked why it took him so long to do that, to which he replied:

I was afraid of what would happen. I was terrified my name would be too difficult to pronounce, so it would be taken away. And it happened. I had to fight for my name. Now, I’m fighting for it be pronounced correctly. I don’t expect people to understand the weight of all that.

Ali recently revealed that the storyline explanation for the other RETRIBUTION members having weird names and masks was because he wanted them to know what it felt like to be judged and mocked for their names and their appearance, just like he has been throughout his life.

RETRIBUTION has gathered very little momentum since debuting but Ali did pick up a win on Raw this past Monday over Ricochet.

What are your thoughts on the above story? Let us know in the comments on Twitter or Facebook.

• mustafa ali
• name change
• Retribution
• wwe

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