In the wild and unpredictable world of professional wrestling, Mustafa Ali has been quite the globe-trotter since his WWE departure in 2023. He’s graced European rings with RevPro and APC, strutted his stuff in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and made waves in TNA, notably snagging the X-Division Championship from Chris Sabin at No Surrender. Despite not being under contract, Ali carried the X-Division banner high until “Speedball” Mike Bailey took the title at Slammiversary.
Now, in a move that left wrestling fans doing a double take, Ali took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to announce he wouldn’t be seeking re-election as the TNA X-Division Champion. In true Ali fashion, he did it by parodying President Joe Biden’s recent announcement.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your X-Division Champion,” Ali penned. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the X-Division for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my independent obligations for the remainder of my term. I will not speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”
The wrestler formerly known as the X-Division Champion has plenty on his plate. His independent obligations include defending the DREAMWAVE Alternative Championship on August 3, Black Label Pro and GCW on August 25 and 31 respectively, and even heading to Australia for the MCW/OPW cross-promotional event in September. As for his long-term wrestling home, rumors are swirling after he was seen backstage at an AEW Dynamite episode in Chicago this July, but no official contracts have been announced.