A former WWE star Mustafa Ali has revealed that they found out about the shocking conclusion to their match moments before they made their entrance.
Ever since its inception in 2005, many stars have seen their careers alter greatly after winning the Money in the Bank contract. Guaranteeing the winner a future title opportunity, the likes of Edge, Seth Rollins and Big E all won their first WWE Championships via Money in the Bank cash-in and were instantly catapulted into the main event picture as a result.
In 2019, Mustafa Ali could have also seen his career change drastically as he was scheduled to win the signature ladder match after missing out on WrestleMania earlier in the year. Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Ali recalled being told that he was set to win the match and had ideas for a custom briefcase until he was informed of a change of plans:
“So, yeah, I show up to Money in the Bank and they’re like, ‘Hey, you’re winning it.’ I go, ‘What? Okay, cool.’ So this is so funny because I’m one of the shorter guys in the match. So they actually had me climb up the ladder so they could adjust the briefcase so it was within grabbing distance of me. And all day we’re putting this match together. Everyone’s like, Hey, man, Congrats. Yeah, man, this is awesome.
I was like, Oh, maybe I can get this briefcase to light up, because I was wearing the light of stuff at the time. I’m thinking this is one of those cloud 9 moments, I can’t believe this is happening, because it’s not happening.”
“None Of The Guys Know”: Mustafa Ali On Brock Lesnar Joining WWE Money In The Bank Match
The closing moments of the match saw Ali climb the ladder and grasp the briefcase. However, just before Ali managed to get the case unhooked, Brock Lesnar’s music rang out through the arena. Lesnar, who was not involved in the match when it started, stormed the ring, attacked Ali and grabbed the briefcase.
Continuing his recollection, Ali added that he was informed about the change by Vince McMahon as the entrances were happening and how he figured out that the plans were changed to accommodate Lesnar into the match:
“So the match is about to start. Entrances have started. I want to say Baron Corbin is making his entrance. I don’t know why, I just have his music in my head. I have a very funny visual for you. So I’m wearing this light-up mask and I’m wearing this jacket that lights up and I have a glove, and they all kind of pulsate with lights, obviously.
Jamie Noble comes up. ‘Hey, boss man wants to talk to you. Go talk to the boss.’ I was like, Okay. The entrances are happening. Vince is looking up, and I come over. Now, mind you Gorilla is completely dark, so I just have these red lights that are flashing on Vince’s face and he’s all shadowy. So you can see the picture that I see looking up at him.
He goes ‘Change of plans. Do the match, everything you called. When the time’s right I want you to climb up the ladder and grab the briefcase. Someone’s going to come out. I want you to hold the briefcase and just have shock on your face. He’s gonna run down, tip the ladder over, and you stay down. Do you understand?’ And again, my lights are just flashing on his face, so I see what he’s saying but there’s a moment where he goes black and it’s red, black and it’s red. I’m like, copy that, sir.
I just walk away I’m like, It’s Brock. Who else could it be? I’m walking, my music is hitting. So he literally told me [right before]. None of the guys in the match know. Finn didn’t know. Randy didn’t know, Baron Corbin in the match, Drew McIntyre, Andrade. No one knew. I’m the only guy that knows.
I’m walking down, I’m just focused on the match. At this point, match happens, climbing up the thing and, man, it’s just like, I know everyone’s like, Well, why didn’t you just grab the briefcase? I want to be like, because my boss told me.”
Ali also recalled what happened when Lesnar’s music hit and how the rest of the competitor were not happy about his inclusion:
“So I climb up, I grab it. Brock’s music hits. They cut to him. I do the slip. You don’t see it, but when I’m looking down Brock hits a ladder out of the way, and it just completely annihilates a cameraman named Rico. Just hits him in the head. He goes down, he needs stitches. I’m watching this and I’m like he’s gonna murder me!I hope I’m not destroying the mystique of Brock here, but what a pro. Gets in the ring, grabs me, looks up to me. He’s like, ‘Hey, kid you ready?’ And I’m like yeah? He goes ‘Okay, nice and easy, one, two.’ And the thing is, he was so nice about the push that I was expecting this violent thing that I hurled myself off the ladder and I ended up hitting the top rope with my mouth, cutting my mouth, completely my fault, hurting myself, and I go down. He’s just pros pro man.I’m saying that, but you can see if you watch it back, if you cut to the clip of the guys on the floor selling, they’re all very unamused that this match happened that way.”
In other news, a WWE Hall of Famer has made an interesting pitch regarding The Rock’s return.
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