After taking a loss at Night of Champions to Gunther in a match he hyped up as a career-defining bout one way or another, Mustafa Ali found himself on the wrong side of the results column and a free agent in the WWE after being overlooked by both RAW and SmackDown in the draft.

Fortunately, Ali got to thinking and found a way to get back into the championship picture, inserting himself into the friendship of Tyler Bate and Wes Lee in order to eventually get himself a shot at the latter's North American Championship.

Through persuasion, purposeful maneuvering, and the power of #PositiveAli, Ali was able to work a trios match with the friends and even landed the duo a friendly contest for the NA Title to help iron sharpen iron, with the Chicago native even offering to serve as a guest referee in the match.

Fast forward to Night 1 of NXT Gold Rush, and Ali got his wish, with the high-flying duo of Lee and Bate turning in a legit show-stopper in the opening contest that featured more than a few moments where the speed of the referee's count became a topic of conversation.

Stopping by the backstage area after the match to discuss his involvement in Lee and Bate's match, which controversially saw him lift both performers to their feet before the finish instead of counting out the champ, Ali was asked by Kelly Kincaid if he maybe played a bit too much into the finish of the match. Understandably, Ali didn't take too kindly to that questioning, as he felt he did a “fantastic job” as a referee.

“Don’t do that,” Ali requested of Kelly Kincaid. “Don’t judge the action; judge the intentions behind the actions, right? What was I trying to do? I was trying to get two of the very best in NXT to tear the house down, and how do they start the match? Holds, a nice little friendly competition; that’s now what the NXT Universe wanted to see.”

“They wanted to see Tyler Bate, Wes Lee tear the house down! So I gave them a little motivation. Yeah, a fast count in the beginning to remind them this match can end any time. A slow count to remind them if they don’t put all of their weight and all of their momentum into every move, their opponent can counter. And how did the match end? Wes Lee on the floor, Tyler Bate out cold in the ring; do the fans want to see a ten count? They want to see a no-contest for the North American Championship? Are you kidding me? No I stepped up; I did them a solid. I gave the NXT Universe what they wanted: a show-stealing performance. And the better man won, so congratulations to Wes Lee. And congratulations to me for doing a fantastic job. I’d say so, yeah?”

Alright, is there some validity to Ali's thought process? Sure thing; no one wants to see a championship match end in a count out, and even if his tactics were unusual, he ultimately got the match to the finish, which was very fun and even more intriguing. If Ali's goal really is to turn Lee and Bate against each other and force the duo to wear themselves down before he can pick the bones and take the strap for himself, then this certainly was a step in that direction.

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Mustafa Ali had a six-word reaction to his referee job in NXT.

So, after the cameras turned off and the performers left the PC for the night, how did Mustafa Ali really feel about his efforts in NXT? Was he proud of himself for getting the best out of his two friends, happy to get in the ring without having to take a bump, or proud that his plan to end Wes Lee's North American Championship run to usher in a reign of his own progressed forward in an intriguing way?

Fortunately, fans don't have to wonder any longer, as Ali took to Twitter just as NXT was going off the air and gave his “personal” assessment of his contributions to the opening segment of Gold Rush.

“Personally, I thought I did great?” – Ali, you dog, way to lean into the bit and keep it going.

Now granted, would it have been shocking to see Ali react in any other way? Most definitely, giving up the goat on Twitter would have been foolish, especially with so much time invested into his new NXT run. No, Ali handled this to the best of his abilities, and he deserves credit for #PositiveAli playing the long game to become a WWE Champion.