Mustafa Ali Explains Why His First Name Was Dropped By WWE Last Year

Mustafa Ali, the leader of Monday Night Raw stable Retribution, has revealed why WWE initially dropped his first name. According to Ali, WWE felt his first name was "too difficult to pronounce" and hence decided to make the change.

"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," he tweeted on Wednesday.

Ali was responding to a tweet from a fan, who had responded to an earlier tweet from Ali in which he expressed frustration at WWE commentators never pronouncing his first name correctly.

"Now, not only do they know my name, I made 'em say it right," Ali tweeted earlier.

Ali addressed the same issue during a recent appearance on Raw Talk.

In March of 2019, his in-ring name was shortened to just Ali. In November 2019, ahead of Survivor Series where he competed as a member of Team SmackDown, his name was reverted back to Mustafa Ali.

Ali and Retribution are rumored to face The Hurt Business at Survivor Series later this month.

Oh. Also, now IDGAF.

— Mustafa Ali / Adeel Alam (@AliWWE) November 11, 2020