Mustafa Ali Explains That There Was 'No Malice' Behind Him Losing His First Name

While Mustafa Ali's full name was brought back under the new leadership of WWE, he insisted to SportsKeeda WrestleBinge that there was no malice behind his first name being taken away originally. Ali isn't the only wrestler who has had his name taken away at points in WWE, with the likes of Matt Riddle and Austin Theory also having their names shortened for a brief period. While it's something that caused an obvious uproar online with fans, it isn't a situation that Ali felt was done to impact him negatively.

"I think people take things too personally," he said. "There's a personal attachment to my name with Mustafa, it means something to me. But it wasn't like they just sat around and said, 'Hey, we are going to mess around with this guy and take away his name,' it was a calculated decision."

Ali revealed that he asked the company why they made the decision, and it was explained to him that it was purely down to fan reactions. At the time people were chanting both "Mustafa" and "Ali," and WWE felt the best way to eliminate that problem was to give him only a single name.

"They just couldn't get on the same page," he said. "This happened over, and over, and over again so the resolution was, if they only had one name to chant that's what they're going to chant. I pleaded my case, 'Oh if you just refer to me as Ali but I have a full name,' it was a decision that was made and it worked."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "SportsKeeda WrestleBinge" with a H/T to WrestlingInc. for the transcription.