-- Mustafa Ali was a surprise release by WWE last week given that the company had already announced that he'd be facing Dominik Mysterio for the North American title this weekend at NXT No Mercy. It was previously noted that Ali had asked for his release in early 2022 over creative differences that may have even culminated in an argument with Vince McMahon.
-- The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Ali, who has strong in-ring skills and talks well on the mic, could be someone that AEW will show significant interest in, particularly since Bryan Danielson has been high on him and Danielson has considerable influence within the promotion. In fact, Danielson had at one point pitched Ali to work a PPV event with him back in 2019 when both were with WWE.
-- The report adds that the decision to release Ali likely stemmed from the fact that WWE did not see themselves using him on the main roster yet his contract ensured that he was being paid "main roster money." What's notable though is that WWE didn't even wait for his program on TV with Dominik Mysterio to play out or wait even a week or two to write him out of storylines.