WWE Superstar Mustafa Ali was recently noted absent during his hometown SmackDown show in Chicago, and a report has shed some light on the situation.
A new report from Fightful Select gives an unfortunate update on the circumstances which have seen Mustafa Ali posted missing from WWE SmackDown in what has been a very stop-start few years for the WWE star which has saw nixed factions, characters and storylines aplenty.
The report from Fightful reveals the disappointing reason for Ali’s absence from his hometown SmackDown – he simply wasn’t in attendance and there was nothing planned for him. The Christmas Eve edition of SmackDown was also filmed meaning Ali will be absent next week, too.
The report adds that Ali asked off for a couple of weeks for paternity leave, but that the amount of time requested had already passed. An additional note states that Ali was sent home early for the requested paternity leave, and he’s not been on the road since before Survivor Series.
Following the report, Ali posted a cryptic tweet.
— Mustafa Ali / Adeel Alam (@AliWWE) December 20, 2021
Only recently, Mustafa Ali was given incredibly high praise from a staple of SmackDown – the Special Counsel to the Tribal Chief, Paul Heyman.
“Look at Mustafa Ali. Mustafa Ali is one of the foremost talents in WWE. Why? Because he constantly pushes against boundaries. He is going to be a sensation. One day or the next, he’s going to be. Why? Because he’s not held the convention, he’s not held the ‘what’s been done already.’ He looks and he says, ‘This is what I can do in the next 36 months and nobody else is doing it.’ We need more people like that.”
Just last month, Ali shared a video of his most recent pitch which resulted in a vignette, but which did not make WWE TV.