Shawn Michaels has addressed the sudden change to a match following the departure of Mustafa Ali.
The original plan was for Ali to face North American Dominik Mysterio at NXT No Mercy with the title on the line. However, Mustafa Ali announced that he was no longer a part of the company on September 21st, forcing the match to be scrapped and plans for the North American title to be unknown.
Much like the fans, Shawn Michaels was shocked by the news of the departure along with several people who were unhappy about Mustafa Ali no longer being a part of the company. Speaking on the media call ahead of No Mercy, Michaels spoke about how he adapts NXT to news like this:
“I found out right before he did. I will say this, I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t take us by surprise. That’s one thing I’m learning here is that main roster and NXT are totally separate rosters. I think the world of Mustafa, had a great working relationship with him in the time that he was here, I will miss him. That’s what we do here in NXT. We adjust. The fire drill is something that is a regular thing here in the WWE and certainly here at NXT.
Recently Shawn Michaels has sung the praises of Trick Williams.
Shawn Michaels Discusses Mustafa Ali’s Replacement In Title Match
With Ali not competing at No Mercy, Michaels was not going to let Mysterio off easy. A last-minute 4-way match was booked for the go-home NXT that saw Trick Williams, Tyler Bate, Axion and Dragon Lee compete to be next in line to face “Dirty” Dom. The match was won by Trick Williams, who will face Mysterio at the PLE with Dragon Lee serving as special referee.
Discussing the sudden change, Michaels stated that he enjoyed his time working with Ali and how this is a great opportunity for Williams:
I feel we made a great pivot, we adjusted, and he’s an unbelievably creative and talented young man and no doubt his future looks incredibly bright and he’ll be successful. I’m going to miss him and I enjoyed working with him for the time that I did have him here. Now, Trick Williams is the beneficiary of that, and he has the biggest match of his life at No Mercy,”
Another name Michaels will be missing is Dana Brooke, saying her release affected immediate plans in NXT.
H/t to Fightful.