Mustafa Ali Thought He'd Be Facing Kofi Kingston At WrestleMania 37
The story seems to write itself
Two years ago, Kofi Kingston filled in for an injured Mustafa Ali in the WWE championship Elimination Chamber match, and the rest is history. Kingston subsequently rode the faith and momentum from that match appearance into a WWE title win over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35.
Earlier in 2021, Ali called back to Kingston's good fortune in a televised promo, and it looked like WWE was going to pit the two against each other in a feud centered around those circumstances.
Instead, Kingston is in a Tag Team title match at WrestleMania 37, whereas Ali is in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on Friday's SmackDown.
Speaking with Metro, Ali revealed that there were apparently plans for he and Kingston to face off at WrestleMania, paying off the situational reversal from two years earlier.
"The story was presented and I really thought that was the direction we might be going for in this year’s WrestleMania," Ali said. "Again, like I said, things change and other things take priority sometimes. We almost got to it, so I will try to get to it again. There’s so much real emotion that I can just bring up and bring out in promos leading to that match. When we do do it, I hope we’re allowed to do it right because I feel like it’d be one hell of a story."
He adds, "‘We’ve all had that moment where you really feel like something that was yours – or you’re up for a job promotion, or whatever it is, and someone else gets it. Or your best friends gets something that you were also gunning for.
"The big thing that we as performers – the best thing we can do is do something you can relate to."
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.
