Mustafa Ali has revealed that his appearance at WWE Night of Champions 2023 almost never happened, until an unexpected conversation with a powerful Saudi official changed everything.

Speaking during a live episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Ali shared the unusual circumstances that led to him being added to the card for the event in Saudi Arabia. According to Ali, he originally traveled to the country only to help with promotional duties ahead of the show and had not been scheduled to compete.

Ali explained that he was invited to take part in media appearances and fan outreach tied to Night of Champions. While there, he participated in public relations activities and fan events, which ended up drawing far more people than organizers had expected.

“I was sent to go do media, like public relations for an upcoming event in Saudi Arabia called Night of Champions,” Ali said. “So I go there, I’m not on the show. I’m just going there as token brown guy. So I’m going there, I’m making everyone happy. Just because it’s, you know, you’re always going to relate to someone that looks like you, right? I do these little events. Obviously, very appreciative of the turnout here [at the podcast episode], but the turnout there was insane. They were expecting 500 people. There was like 3,000 people.”

During the trip, Ali struck up a conversation with someone he initially believed was simply an event official. That discussion quickly turned into something much bigger.

“So the guy’s looking at me like, ‘Oh, this Mustafa Ali, maybe he does the show.’ I was like, ‘It’s the Night of Champions, you have to be a champion to be on the show. I’m not a champion.’ And I didn’t realize I was talking to like the president of the GEA, which is the General Entertainment Authority that basically runs the shows in Saudi Arabia. He goes, ‘You leave it to me, I talk to [Vince].’ I go, ‘No, no.’ He goes, ‘No, no, no, I’m going to request that you’re on the show.’”

The General Entertainment Authority, led by Turki Alalshikh, oversees the relationship between WWE and Saudi Arabia for the company’s premium live events in the country.

Ali believes the situation may have created tension backstage, particularly with Vince McMahon, who he felt likely did not appreciate being told who should appear on the show. Around the same time, WWE aired a backstage segment on the go home episode of Raw where Brock Lesnar confronted Ali and told him to “get a life, kid.”

Reflecting on his WWE run, Ali said he ultimately left the company knowing he had done everything possible to make his ideas work.

“The cookies are going to crumble the way it crumbles, right? I know, when I look at WWE, I know that I knocked on every door, I presented every idea, I never said no for the most part,” Ali said on Insight. “And I did good work, man. I’m never going to look in the mirror and feel like, ‘Oh man, I failed…’

“There was nothing else I could have done. I tried everything, comedy, serious, being the little guy, this guy, whatever the hell. You know what I mean? So I walked away with that. And then when Brock said, ‘Go get a life, kid’ , I quite literally did that. I’m the f***ing man now.”

Ali was released by WWE in September 2023 and is currently competing for TNA Wrestling.

what the?!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/vxdjrNTUpf

, WWE (@WWE) May 23, 2023