It wasn’t that long ago that former-205 Live Superstar, Mustafa Ali, made his SmackDown Live debut. Since that time, Ali has already established himself as a main roster talent, facing off against top talent like Bryan and Samoa Joe.
Mustafa Ali recently took the time to sit down with Chris Jericho for the latter’s podcast, Talk Is Jericho. During their conversation, Ali recounted being told that he was moving from 205 Live to SmackDown. He also spoke about “The Planet’s Champion” Daniel Bryan, and the fact that the performers on 205 Live are a similar size to the majority of WWE’s main roster talent.
“They Need You Right Now”
Prior to working with Bryan on SmackDown, Ali recalled on being told he wouldn’t be featured on 205 Live for a few weeks. This is because the writers had nothing for him at the time. Those plans changed when he was told he would debut on WWE’s main roster.
“[…] so I’m kind of showing up at TV, just hanging out and they were like, ‘Hey, you’re working SmackDown tonight.’ ‘Oh, okay.’ ‘And you’re working Daniel Bryan, and you have a promo with him too, and it’s three segments.’ I’m like, ‘okay,’ and I’m kind of blowing off this writer, like, ‘okay, yeah, yeah.’ And he was like, ‘no, I’m being serious. They need you right now. Like, go. Go.'”
He continued, saying, “I’m like, ‘is he confusing me for somebody? What is going on?’ Then I find out and I’m told that day, ‘It’s just a one-time deal. We kind of want to see what happens with it. We’re going to give 205 the rub [and] Bryan wants to work with you,’ so I was obviously honored, and I went out there and I did my thing. I was told it was a one-time deal. ‘Okay, cool.’ The next week, ‘Hey, when you get in, go see Road Dogg, Brian James.’ And Road Dogg’s the one that tells me. He’s like, ‘hey, we’re taking you off of 205. You’re on SmackDown now and you’re teaming with AJ Styles tonight and you guys are working the main event again against Andrade and Daniel Bryan. And you’re getting the win on Bryan.’”
“He’ll Never Come Out And Say It To Me”
Ali believes that Daniel Bryan probably has more to do with this call-up than he has admitted. “I’ll never put words in anyone’s mouth, but there’s so many inclinations that I’m having that he had more to say about it than he’s letting on. I mean, just for a guy to get plucked out of 205 and I get put with him in a program and he’s attacking me backstage after my second or third week on SmackDown…it’s all very him.”
He continued, “And, man, what a guy to learn from. I have nothing but good things to say about him, but he’ll never come out and say it to me, I don’t think. I have a feeling he is more involved than he’s letting on.”
H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcribed quotes
