Better late than never can be said about Mustafa Ali finally getting his NXT North American Championship match, added to the lineup for next week's episode of NXT.
As previously announced at NXT No Mercy, this special episode was set to be called NXT Invasion (but has since been renamed NXT Showdown), with the gimmick in mind that Superstars from NXT will be in action against wrestlers from TNA.
Three matches had been announced at that time, with DarkState against The Hardys for the NXT and TNA tag team titles, as well as men's and women's Team NXT vs Team TNA Survivor Series matches.
On tonight's episode of NXT, however, NXT North American Champion Ethan Page was out in the ring for a promo segment where he planned to call out AAA's Latin American Champion, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., whom he has been feuding with since their match for Wagner's title at AAA Worlds Collide: Las Vegas. Instead of being met by Wagner, Mustafa Ali interrupted.
Ali revealed that he will be in action against Page at NXT Showdown, which is actually going back to something from two years ago.
Back in September 2023, after several weeks of positioning himself in the title scene for the North American Championship and finally receiving a scheduled match against Dominik Mysterio, Ali was actually released from World Wrestling Entertainment, causing the match to be cancelled.
Ali spoke about this in the promo segment, saying that he had no issues with Page, but was just cashing in on the title opportunity he never received from 749 days ago. Page retorted that everyone who challenges him is destined to fail, before wishing Ali the best in his future endeavors, calling back to the phrasing WWE used to always use whenever they would fire someone from the company.
This led to a quick brawl segment with Ali coming out on top, giving him some momentum heading into next week's show.
Here is the updated lineup for NXT Showdown based on adding this match:
- Survivor Series Tag Team Match: Women's Team NXT (Jacy Jayne, Jaida Parker, Sol Ruca and Lola Vice) vs. Team TNA (Kelani Jordan, Cassie Lee, Jessie McKay, and Jakara Jackson)
- Survivor Series Tag Team Match: Team NXT (Ricky Saints, Je'Von Evans, Trick Williams, and Myles Borne) vs. Team TNA (Mike Santana, Frankie Kazarian, Moose, and Leon Slater)
- Winners Take All Title-for-Title Match: TNA World Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy) vs. NXT Tag Team Champions DarkState (Dion Lennox & Osiris Griffin)
- NXT North American Championship Match: Ethan Page (c) vs. Mustafa Ali
Do you think Mustafa Ali could win the NXT North American Championship? Who are you rooting for? Drop a comment with your predictions!