Mustafa Ali highlights the stakes of his match at WWE Night of Champions.
Ali has dealt with adversity throughout his career, as he hasn't always been given the chance to shine. From taking plenty of losses to being given the role of Retribution's leader, Ali has overcome a number of obstacles. He has received a major opportunity, as he will challenge Gunther for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at WWE Night of Champions. Ali had an interview about the match on the May 22 episode of WWE Raw, but he was interrupted by Brock Lesnar, who told him to get a life.
In a tweet, Ali shared his thought ahead of the match. He stated that he has always dreamed of being a champion, and his career hasn't turned out that way up to this point. Ali noted that, despite these struggles, he still believes in himself. He highlighted his past successes and emphasized the importance of his match at WWE Night of Champions. Ali then stated that if he can't be a champion, he doesn't deserve to be "here", and at Night of Champions, his dream will either come true or die.
"Earlier tonight, I was trying to say something, but I didn’t really get the chance to say what I wanted to say. So I’ll say it now. I don’t want to continue to pretend to be something that I’m not. My whole life, I’ve dreamed about doing something great, about being a champion. When I look back at my career, I haven’t even gotten close to being any of those things. You’ve all seen. It’s been failure after failure. This is why no one believes that I even have a chance in hell at defeating Gunther and becoming the Intercontinental Champion. But for some reason, I still believe I can. I know I can. I’m still Mustafa Ali. I’m still the guy that was the ultimate underdog, that would never stay down. I www the heart of the cruiserweight division. I was the guy that pinned a reigning WWE Champion. That was me. I was doing that while I was breaking down barriers and shattering stereotypes. That was me. Night of Champions takes place in Saudi Arabia. There’s gonna be kids out there that look just like me, that have a name just like mine. They need to see the real Mustafa Ali. I need to see the real Mustafa Ali too because I need to finally look in the mirror and be proud of the man that’s staring back at me. I’m laying it all on the line. At Night of Champions, if I can’t be great, if I can’t be a champion, then I don’t deserve to be here. This Saturday, either my dream finally comes true, or my dream dies, and if it’s gonna die, then I’m going down with it," Ali said.
Ali recently reflected on his nixed feud with Seth Rollins. Check out his comments here.
Catch up on our coverage of the May 22 episode of WWE Raw here. For a full review, check out the post-show podcast on our YouTube channel.
Check out the card for WWE Night of Champions here.
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