WWE and TNA are full steam ahead planning their upcoming cross-promotional event. The show included several surprises, including an appearance from a returning Mustafa Ali.
In the opening of tonight’s NXT, general manager Ava announced the team captains for NXT. Newly crowned NXT Champion Ricky Saints and Jacy Jane will helm the NXT team. Santino Marella, the Authority of TNA, shared that Knockouts Champion Kelani Jordan and Mike Santana will represent TNA.
But that wasn’t all — fans got an appearance from a familiar face later in the show. Ali — who was let go from WWE in 2024 — will wrestle in a WWE ring again. His final WWE match was in September of 2023, wrestling Dragon Lee on NXT.
Mustafa Ali gets NXT North American Championship match
“I think a lot of people were surprised about the release with WWE because I was working directly with Shawn Michaels on NXT,” Ali told The Takedown on SI. “He told me he was surprised. At the end of the day, I was a main roster guy making main roster money and there were no plans for me on the main roster.”
Ali had a shot at the North American Championship, held by Dominik Mysterio, prior to leaving. He confronted Ethan Page for the title and the match was made official. He’s been wrestling in TNA for some time, even winning the X-Division Championship. After “Speedball” Mike Bailey dethroned him for the title and he lost a TNA World Title match to Nic Nemeth, he disappeared from TNA. It seemed like that might be the end of his stint, until he popped up in January, signing a TNA contract. This was around the same time the NXT/TNA partnership was announced.
Taking place on October 7th, the event was originally titled “Invasion” but is now being touted as a “Showdown.” Reports surfaced that Israel found the name to show “extreme insensitivity” by WWE. It is unknown if that is the reason for the change.
Stay tuned to VICE for updates on WWE.
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