With numerous, high-profile wins before super-on-vacancy crowds, Mustafa Ali has taken control of his destiny like on wrestler we've seen in years. Non, he reveals the ingenious campaign strategy that made him one of the industry’s hottest attractions.
AFTER SEVEN YEARS OF planning, it was essential that Mustafa Ali’s plan was executed to perfection—right down to the minute.
“My first, official free date from WWE was December 21. So, on 12/21, at 12:21 p.m., my campaign video was released,” said Ali, who recalled his strict instructions to wrestling promoters not to announce his forthcoming appearances until precisely 12:23 p.m. “My video was exactly two minutes long.”
It’s a level of creativity and marketing genius that many fans might have been surprised to find in Ali, whose tenure in WWE featured no shortage of terrific matches, but only modest attempts at character development—though, we’ve since learned, not for lack of effort on Ali’s part. From his earliest days competing in the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic tournament in 2016,
