After watching Baron Corbin run the show in the opening segment of NXT to explain his decision to pull WWE double duty on SmackDown and NXT, Mustafa Ali was afforded a chance to discuss his own developmental return with McKenzie Mitchell, and needless to say, it was much less aggressive.

“I mean, I’m free agent Ali, baby,” Ali noted. “That means I can show up wherever I want. And now, the pen is in my hand. Now I’m the one writing the story, and the next chapter that I’m gonna write is called ‘Mustafa Ali finally becomes a champion.”

Before he could continue, Ali and Mitchell were interrupted by Wes Lee, who wanted to celebrate his fellow cruiserweight's return to developmental.

“Excuse me, real quick, Lee said as he slid into frame. I do not mean to interrupt but I have got to let you know how excited I am that you are here, dog. I heard you talking about gold over there with the North American Championship and I’d really like to make sure that we have some-”

“Wes, Wes, Wes, come on, don’t do that, don’t just come here and hand me an opportunity,” Ali said. “I’m like you, I wanna earn it. Okay and that’s gonna start tonight with Gacey. And who knows, down the road, maybe it’d be me and you for that title. I mean, that is if you’re still champion.”

At the end of his match with Joe Gacey, Ali got jumped by the members of Dyad but was saved by Lee and Tyler Bate, who he suggested should wrestle on a match at some point in the future after they work a trios bout versus Schism. Where does this end? Hopefully, with the North American Championship around Ali's waist, as he desperately needs to add a championship to make his run feel complete.