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#6 Mustafa Ali almost quit wrestling before signing with WWE

RETRIBUTION

Mustafa Ali got his big break with WWE during the Cruiserweight Classic. Ali was originally an alternate for the tournament but ended up replacing Brazilian star Zumbi after he was unable to take part. Ali grabbed the opportunity with both hands and impressed and ended up signing a deal with WWE. Ali has come a long way as a performer since then.

In a recent appearance of After The Bell, Ali revealed just how close he came to leaving the wrestling business before his big break with WWE:

The Cruiserweight Classic was a tumultuous thing for me. It was that typical indie wrestler moment that we’ve all, anyone that’s you know, done this can understand. I thought this was the year that I’m going to hang up the boots, or the kick pads, or whatever you want to call them because I wasn’t getting any traction. A lot of my friends were blowing up on the indie scene. And like you mentioned, I was a police officer at the time. So traveling all over the world, doing these tours in the UK and Japan just [wasn’t] feasible. The number one thing for me at that time was providing for my family, as a man should. So my dream came second. H/T: 411Mania

Ali leads the RETRIBUTION faction on RAW right now and definitely looks set to have a bright future in WWE.