On an episode of RAW before Night of Champions 2023, Brock Lesnar interrupted Mustafa Ali’s backstage interview and said: “Get a life, kid.”
During an interview on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, Ali revealed the real reason Lesnar said that was because someone high up in WWE was trying to send him a message after what happened at a Saudi Arabia media event:
“I was sent to go do media, public relations for an upcoming event in Saudi Arabia called Night of Champions. So I go there. I’m not on the show. I’m going as ‘token brown guy.’ Just because, you know, you’re always going to relate to someone that looks like you.
I do these little events. Obviously, very appreciative of the turnout here. But the turnout there was insane. They’re expecting 500 people. There was like 3,000 people.
So the guy’s like, ‘Oh, this Mustafa Ali, maybe he does the show.’ I was like, ‘It’s the Night of Champions. You have to be a champion to be on the show. I’m not a champion.’ I didn’t realize I was talking to the President of the GEA, which is the General Entertainment Authority that basically runs the shows in Saudi Arabia.
He goes, ‘You leave it to me, I’ll talk to Vince (McMahon).’ I go, ‘No, no!’ He goes, ‘I’m going to request that you’re on the show.’ I think what happened was someone told Vince what to do. And he’s like, ‘Oh. Okay.’
So the whole day, I could sense the nervous tension about something was going to happen. I had this promo, but I’m reading it, and it was like, ‘And then what happens?’ They go, ‘Well, Brock’s just gonna walk by.’ And I go, ‘Yeah?'”
Let me ask you guys this question to preface this. When someone’s doing a backstage interview, where does it happen? Backstage. Not by the Gorilla entrance. So they go at the last second, I’m getting ready. ‘Oh, we’re moving the shot to Gorilla now.’ And I go, ‘Right, okay, here it comes.’
So I didn’t know he was gonna say that. So when he said that and he walked off, there was this dead silence, because everyone that was there, they knew what happened. They’re trying to send a message, but it’s like, why does it have to be at my expense?
So it’s just one of those things. I think, because of the frustration and because of what had happened, I think that’s why Shawn (Michaels) had reached out to [Triple H] about NXT, because right after that is when I made my NXT appearance.
But again, not to cry over it like that. It is what it is, the cookie’s gonna crumble the way it crumbles. I know when I look at WWE, I know that I knocked on every door, I presented every idea, I never said no for the most part, and I did good work, man.
I’m never gonna look in the mirror and feel like, ‘Oh man, I failed.’ I talk to a lot of my peers that have unfortunately got let go. I go, ‘Are you doing okay?’ And they all said the same thing. They go, ‘Man, I just wish I tried a little harder.’
When I got let go, I just said, ‘Well, there’s nothing else I could have done.’ I tried everything. Comedy, serious, being the little guy, this guy, whatever the hell. So I walked away with that. And then, you know, when Brock said, ‘Go get a life, kid,’ I quite literally did that. I’m the f**king man now.”
Why Brock Lesnar said "Get a life, kid" to Mustafa Alipic.twitter.com/Ol1bPFmj50
— WrestleFeed (@WrestleFeedApp) March 6, 2026
At WWE Night of Champions 2023 in Saudi Arabia, Gunther defeated Mustafa Ali to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
Also Read: Mustafa Ali Reveals How He Accidentally Became Friends With The Undertaker
