on june 25, 2016, after brazilian wrestler zumbi was not able to participate in the wwe cruiserweight classic due to visa issues, wwe announced that mustafa ali would replace him. on july 20, linch dorado defeat ali and he was eliminated from tournament. he appeared october 26 episode of nxt, where he and dorado teaming with each other and entered dusty rohdes tag team classic. but in first round they were defeated by kota ibushi and tj perkins.