Mustafa Ali publicly requested his release recently, which many expected to be granted. However, we're told that's not WWE's plan at the moment.
Those that Fightful Select heard from confirmed that WWE and Ali have spoken with each other and that Ali was informed that they would not be granting his request for a release at this moment, and as of njow it isn't the plan. Ali has years left on his WWE deal, but hasn't been used on WWE TV or even at tapings in over two months. While some suspected that he was out on paternity leave, we're told he'd only asked for one show off.
We were told the term "value" was brought up a lot in the discussions between Ali and WWE, thought we weren't given specifics on that or why WWE didn't grant the release. As Fightful Select reported the day Ali requested his release, he and Vince McMahon had a heated argument over creative direction, and he's not been back to WWE TV since then.
This article first appeared on our premium service, Fightful Select. Subscribe to get exclusive news every day, and a half-dozen weekly podcasts.
