Mustafa Ali Found Out He Would Lead RETRIBUTION The Day Of, Had To ‘Audition’ To Be A Heel

Mustafa Ali had a whirlwind 2020, going from seldom used on main roster television to a hot return, back to the sidelines, and then being the leader of a weekly stable. 

On October 5, 2020 it was revealed Mustafa Ali was the man behind RETRIBUTION and their destructive antics.

Speaking to Comic Book, Ali stated he didn’t know he would be the leader until that day, but he had been pushing for a heel role on television. 

“I wasn’t around during the formation of the group, so I don’t know,” Ali said when asked if he was always going to be the leader of the group. “You never know here. They keep secrets for a reason. I found out I was joining Retribution that day, but I had been auditioning, so to speak. Again, man, storytelling, I kind of looked at my career at a snapshot. I made my return. Nothing really happened. I was off for seven months, for no apparent reason to me other than just creative had nothing for me. When I was initially looking at the mirror, I go, ‘What is wrong with me? Nothing’s wrong with me. Look at me.’ Again, after seven months, you have to eventually have that look in the mirror and go, “What am I missing?” I think the thing I was missing was a little bit of edge. I knew I could cut a great promo. But again, within the confines of being a good guy, you’re very limited as to what you can say.”

Ali continued by saying, “So I presented the idea of doing something. It wasn’t being the leader of Retribution, it was, I met with Vince McMahon and the creative writing team and said, ‘I think I’m capable of doing more and this is the route I’d like to go.’ And it was basically, ‘Well, you’d have to show us.’ So I recorded my own promos, my own videos. I had to audition basically to not be a good guy anymore. And if you go back and you watch these WWE Main Event matches I was having before joining Retribution, you would see the small details, the storytelling when I was slowly becoming more aggressive, a little bit more violent, having a little bit more of these heelish tendencies in my matches.”

In an interview with TV Insider, Ali explained the biggest obstacle facing RETRIBUTION. You can find his full comments by clicking here.

Ali had a chance to capture the United States Championship on Monday’s WWE Raw, but came up short in his bout againt Riddle. 

If you missed anything from WWE Raw, checkout Fightful’s full report on the show by clicking here.