"I'm already the new People's Champion" - 37-year-old WWE star comments on winning gold for the first time

For years, The Rock was labeled "The People's Champion." The WWE legend has become a world champion ten times, Intercontinental Champion twice, and tag team champion five times. Along with these 17 title reigns, The Rock is also a Royal Rumble winner.

On the other hand, current WWE star Mustafa Ali has not held any titles in the Stamford-based promotion yet. However, the free agent recently claimed that he is the "People's Champion" because of an interesting detail.

When asked whether becoming Intercontinental Champion would help his quest to become the "Champion of The People" on WWE's The Bump, Mustafa Ali shared the meaning of his first name:

"Mustafa means the chosen one. And more specifically, the one that's chosen from the people. It seems like I'm already the new people's champion," Ali said. [19:06-19:22]

You can read more about Ali calling his biggest opponent yet a "bully" ahead of their title clash at Night of Champions here.

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The Rock on needing to find himself after leaving WWE

The Rock discussed his initial phase as a Hollywood actor during a sit-down interview with The Pivot Podcast. He talked about finding it hard to retain several aspects of his character because of the advice he received at the time:

"I was told at that time (on becoming a lead actor in Hollywood), 'All right, in order for this to happen, here's the biggest stars in the world - Will Smith, George Clooney, Johnny Depp. You look nothing like them. You got to stop talking about wrestling. Stop calling yourself The Rock. You're too big. Go on a diet, get out of the gym,'" he detailed.

Despite following the instructions at first, The Rock felt it was not the right way to go and ended up firing those that worked for him at the time. He tried again from scratch, retaining his quirks and interests:

"One of the most important things we could be in our lives is ourselves. It's so easy to say, 'Just be you, man, be you,' but it's f**king hard! All right? There's perception, there's reality, you want to look a certain way, you want to, show your teeth (laughs)," The Rock said.

You can read the entire story detailed by the WWE legend here.

Gunther and Mustafa Ali will wrestle at Night of Champions with the IC title on the line. You can read more about a current champion reportedly dropping his title at the upcoming event in Saudi Arabia here.

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