Mustafa Ali On Decision To Publicly Request His WWE Release, Realizing He Had To

[Liz]

In a recent interview on After the Bell with Corey Graves, Mustafa Ali discussed the decision to publicly request his WWE release, realizing he had to control his passion, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Mustafa Ali on the decision to publicly request his WWE release: "I'm very comfortable talking about it. I believe private conversations are meant to be private. The reason it went public is because that private conversation went nowhere. So anyone that truly knows me, and I know there's a portion of the audience that was like, 'How unprofessional.' Anyone that's ever worked with me or dealt with me as a human being knows how much I love this place, how much I love sports entertainment, how much I love wrestling. This is the only thing I ever want to do. For me to even get to that point, that's the issue. Everyone's judging the action. They're not judging the intention behind the action. Corey, you know me. Vic, you know me. Imagine how much it would take for me to try to leave. So I think that's the conversation. That's the topic. And again, there's situations that I can't publicly discuss, but that's what I would want to say about that whole issue. The only reason it got to that point is because there was no other option. It's incredible the things that you'll do when your back is against the wall and you're fighting for survival. And I wouldn't have done something unless I believed in it. And I still stand by that choice to this day. I did what I had to do."

On realizing he had to control his passion: "No, there wasn't an 'aha moment.' The reality of it is, I just realized that my problem was that I care too much. I'm this super passionate guy. I was giving one of the commentators details about what the story was and what I was trying to go for – it was Kevin Patrick – and he said he asked you [Graves] about me and Corey said, 'The one thing about Ali is that he sees it all. So if he's telling you something, he's thought about it.' The 'aha moment' was, you have to control your passion. I'm a really passionate guy when it comes to this. It's not just about me. I'm the guy that goes, 'We can make this guy look even bigger if we shot it this way and then he looks great.' I'm the mad scientist sometimes and the majority of guys I get to perform with are like, 'What are we doing?' That's the trust level I have with performers and producers. When you have this super passionate guy that feels like he's running into wall after wall, the sound reality is, and it's probably not something I should say, but I've just controlled my passion now. I'm doing the job to the best of my ability and then some, but I realized the problem was just caring too much about how it should be, at least in my mind."