Will Mustafa Ali return to WWE?
According to Fightful Select, the former X-Division Champion’s contract ends before 2026. It’s unknown whether TNA has offered him a new one; however, the report does state that Ali is keeping his options open.
Ali is currently under his second stint with TNA/Impact Wrestling. He returned on the January 23, 2025 episode of TNA Impact! Where he interrupted new TNA World Heavyweight Champion Mike Santana and the two would go on to feud for several months. Ali has been mainly dancing around the upper mid card for the most part as he’s had several high profile matches throughout the year such as his rematch against Cedric Alexander and the Hardcore War at Bound For Glory.
The 39-year-old currently leads a faction called Order 4 with Tasha Steelz and The Good Hands (Jason Hotch and John Skyler). However, what’s noticeable about this current run is that there’s a strong possibility of him returning to WWE.
Ali made his return to NXT on the September 30th episode. He came out and challenged Ethan Page for the belt that he was reportedly going to win at No Mercy 2023, the North American title. Page and Ali had a match the following week, with the latter coming up short in his quest to win the North American Championship. There was nothing but positive feedback in terms of Ali’s return to the developmental brand, though it’s unknown if WWE has any interest in bringing back the current TNA star.
On the other hand, Ali has made it clear that he’s definitely open to returning to the promotion.
“I think there’s multiple paths, yeah.” Ali said while speaking to Chris Van Vliet about a potential WWE return. “The thing is, there’s good relations there. The thing with them moving to Netflix is very interesting because it just opens up — I don’t know how much the show is gonna change as far as dynamic, as far as ratings, as far as what they’re okay with.
Business is so good for them, I do think there is a pathway back there. There’s good relations, there’s good contact there. Even the release was like very nice, a lot of nice messages were sent. At the end of the day, it’s on me, right? If I built something that’s profitable and something that they see, oh this plugs in. With wrestling, everything is right place, right time. It’s gotta be right for them, it’s gotta be right for me, it’s gonna be at the right time, it’s gotta be at the right place. When one person is here — If I want to go do this, it doesn’t fit. If they’re going a direction where there’s no spot for me, it doesn’t fit. It’s gotta be right place, right time. So here’s the right place, right time.”
We’ll see in a couple of months whether Ali re-signs or not. It was also reported that Shawn Michaels was a fan of the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion, but he isn’t the man that’s going to hire him back. Hopefully, WWE can give him one more shot as Ali would make a great addition to the roster.