From the Darkness into the Light, the Story of Mustafa Ali.
By Dallas Barnes.
The story of Mustafa Ali is one that has fascinated me for some reason since he made his Cruiserweight Classic Debut in 2016 as a replacement. Ali was instantly jeered and portrayed as a bad guy by the crowd due to his name, but the amazing part about his tournament match against Lince Dorado is, half way through the match the crowd was behind the man they were booing not even 5 minutes ago. I remember watching that match and seeing Ali for the first time thinking “Holy Crap, I wish this guy could’ve won this match.” Mustafa Ali put on an amazing performance that day, earning himself a contract and a spot on the new 205 live roster.
His introduction video for the 205 Live opened with “My Name is Mustafa Ali and your mind already starts making assumptions. The minute I walk out, I don’t say a word and that crowd hears my name and they boo me out of the arena. I’m going to change all of it. ”. He was absolutely right, and Ali made it his mission to win over each and every fan one night at a time. Every night Ali would go out there and have the best match of the show, performing in front of tired crowds who weren’t familiar with the 205Live roster at the time and still managing to get them on their feet by the end of his matches. He would go on to have feuds with Drew Gulak, Hideo Itami, Buddy Murphy, and most importantly Cedric Alexander.
You see, Cedric Alexander in my opinion was Mustafa Ali’s greatest opponent on 205 Live. The feud would be billed as The Heart vs The Soul of 205 Live for the Cruiserweight championship at Wrestlemania. The heart; Mustafa Ali, the guy who had to work his way from the bottom to earn the fans respect and put on tremendous matches in order to do. The Soul; Cedric Alexander, the guy who the fans demanded got signed after his incredible performance against Kota Ibushi in the Cruiserweight Classic. Two guys who helped build 205 Live brick by brick and did so with great pride, were about to have a championship match on the Grandest stage of them all, Wrestlemania. Although Mustafa Ali came up short, it was the respect shown between the two competitors that showed how much this brand meant to both Cedric Alexander and Mustafa Ali.
Ali would never capture the Cruiserweight championship during his time in 205 live but no one can deny the impact he left on the brand before moving onto Smackdown Live. After debuting for Smackdown, Ali finally got his chance at a WWE championship match in an Elimination Chamber. Unfortunately Ali was injured and replaced with Kofi Kingston. Since then Ali hasn’t been able to get momentum again and appear on the main show. Instead he’s been working dark matches to hype up the crowd before the start of the show, but in my opinion, I think he belongs on the main card of Smackdown live. Honestly To see Ali go from, a wrestler who the crowd would boo out of the stadium because of his name to one of the top baby faces on Smackdown live has been such an amazing ride. The sky is the limit for the Heart of Smackdown live and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for him.