Seth Rollins has been the true show-runner for the WWE Raw division for so many years and it was a shame that he didn’t get to hold a top world championship between 2019 and 2023. This is mainly due to the fact that WWE monopolized the main event scene by keeping Roman Reigns the undisputed champion for such a long time. The newly introduced world championship is supposed to change the picture.
In the absence of a world title on WWE Raw, the United States Championship was considered the top title for a long time. In fact, the 2022 Money in the Bank briefcase holder Austin Theory tried to cash in his contract on the then-US Champion Rollins and miserably failed. A title feud was admittedly in the making around the same tile in the fall of 2022 which never took place.
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During the October 17th, 2022, episode of WWE Raw, Mustafa Ali confronted then-United States Champion, Seth Rollins. This happened after Ali was promised a title opportunity by the previous champion, Bobby Lashley. Over the next few weeks, the two WWE Superstars engaged in intense brawls which gauged interest for the WWE Universe into the storyline. As a result, the mid-carder Ali was also supposed to get a push.
Seth Rollins and Mustafa Ali had an abandoned story on WWE Raw
However, the rivalry took an unexpected turn on WWE Raw when Bobby Lashley and Austin Theory stepped up as the next challengers for the United States Championship and Ali was removed from the scene. The development in the title picture headed in a completely different direction where Ali never had a place.
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Speaking in an interview with METRO, Ali revealed that he believed the angle changed after WWE Raw fans started giving babyface reactions to Seth Rollins. Mustafa Ali went into some of the reasons he believes his program with Seth Rollins was dropped.
“I don’t think it was a knock. What I think happened was, I was this babyface that wasn’t fully developed, so you have to reintroduce me as this contender. Even though Seth was this bad guy champion, he was blurring the lines where the fans were really starting to sing his song, and they had to make a decision. Do we lean into this, or does he commit to being the bad guy?”
Moving on after Wrestlemania 39, Seth Rollins headed into the World Heavyweight Championship picture from Night of Champions onward. On that same night, Ali also received an Intercontinental Championship opportunity from GUNTHER.
