“It’s very hard to be a family man, a father, a husband, an independent wrestler, and a police officer.”
― Mustafa Ali
“There are no limitations. There are no barriers. Nothing can stop you, and nothing can define you but you.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I don’t portray a terrorist. The American fans label me a terrorist. It doesn’t matter what I claim to be: in their eyes, I am whatever they say I am despite the fact that I’m not committing any ‘acts of terror.’ I ask you, how am I portraying a terrorist? Because I look like a Muslim?”
― Mustafa Ali
“My dad is really the reason I have this hard work ethic. I can fully remember him leaving home at 5 o’clock in the morning and not coming back until midnight.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I am the guy who always gets put in the tough spots. I’m the guy who gets put in these really dark spots, yet somehow, I shine through.”
― Mustafa Ali
“In the initial stages of my career, I was actually hiding behind a mask to hide who I was, but I was getting frustrated. I wasn’t getting better bookings; I wasn’t competing at bigger events.”
― Mustafa Ali
“As a child, I was a victim of bullying because of my cultural background. I didn’t look like all the other kids. I had a funny name.”
― Mustafa Ali
“There’s a level of exposure that ‘Smackdown’ and ‘Raw’ get that other brands like ‘NXT,’ ‘NXT UK,’ and ‘205 Live’ do not get. But at the same time, I feel like I would not be who I am without ‘205 Live.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“Someone with my name and my appearance comes with preconceived ideas attached. My mission is to erase as many preconceived ideas, barriers, and stereotypes as I can.”
― Mustafa Ali
“My name doesn’t exactly shout ‘babyface.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“There were days I’d wrestle at 9 o’clock, and afterward, I often didn’t shower and would just throw on sweatpants. I had my police gear in the car and would rush to get to the station by 10:30, clean myself off as best I could, and be ready for my shift by 10:59.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I want to change how people perceived me when I came over here, change how the people perceive South-East Asians or Middle Eastern or Muslim or Hindu or whatever their identity is. I want them to just let that go and treat the performer as a performer.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I’m out here for opportunity and championship and a belt that spells my name, but on a bigger stage, my bigger goal, my mindset is to completely eliminate any doubt in some of the minds that, ‘Hey I don’t want to take my dream to WWE. Where I’m from, what I believe in, it could cause any trouble.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“I did not want people to know that I was a Muslim; I did not want people to know my name or that I did not have an American name. I did not want that. Because I knew if they knew that, they would cast me as the bad guy.”
― Mustafa Ali
“When I was trying to achieve my goal, I started training. I became a character, and everyone was expecting me to become the ‘Prince of…’ or the Middle-Eastern, and I wanted to wear a mask, and I wanted to be like a luchador from Mexico. And people asked me, ‘Why are you putting a mask on?’ And the truth is, I did not want to deal with who I was.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I won’t tell you that I’m lucky to be here because I know I’m skilled, and I know I’m talented in the ring. That doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate the opportunity.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I feel like I’m a guy you can give the ball to, and I’ll run with it.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I want people to hear the name Mustafa Ali and want them to know that I’m a proud American. I’m from here, I’m from Chicago; I’m just like one of you.”
― Mustafa Ali
“My message to everyone is that we truly are one, and the minute you see me as the person, not just as the Muslim – when you see me as Adeel Alam and not just the character on TV – when you see past all of that, we are all the same, and we are all just one.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I’ve always had faith in my ring ability, but sometimes it’s how you are perceived, and how good you are doesn’t matter.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I think it’s something much bigger than just pro wrestling and the industry I work in. It’s across all media. You look at Hollywood movies: there’s not the Muslim hero or the guy who looks like me and has a name like mine who is portrayed in a positive manner or in a leading role. So, growing up, I didn’t have a role model that looks like me.”
― Mustafa Ali
“Sometimes you have to create your own chance.”
― Mustafa Ali
“The way ‘205 Live’ came about, there was a lot of trust put into our roster. Because if you look at it, the majority of our roster had not been in the developmental system and NXT. And the majority of us had not been on TV prior to that. So for WWE to trust us and literally hire us and throw us on live TV, it was very, ‘Whoa!’”
― Mustafa Ali
“The main events of ‘205 Live’ are always among the discussion as far as top acts of the week in the world.”
― Mustafa Ali
“If anyone understands the enormous mountain that cruiserweights like myself have to climb, it’s WWE champion Daniel Bryan – who not only climbed that mountain but now stands atop it.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I was that 16-year-old who loved WWE, and I wanted to be a pro wrestler, but I didn’t understand why I had to be the bad guy. I wanted to be like Jeff Hardy – I wanted to be like Rey Mysterio – but I was told I had to be the guy who screamed terrible things about America and attack people from behind.”
― Mustafa Ali
“Wrestling is a reflection of society, and it does have an impact on people.”
― Mustafa Ali
“Everyone in the world, regardless if they’re Muslim or not, does not have to adhere to the label society slaps on you.”
― Mustafa Ali
“My favorite wrestler growing up was Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I always knew I wanted to be a pro wrestler for as long as I can remember.”
― Mustafa Ali
“There wasn’t a defining moment or match or even a person that made me want to wrestle. It all just sort of happened. Kind of like puberty.”
― Mustafa Ali
“If there is ever a crew that goes out every night behind the eight-ball and have their work cut out for them to be respectable, it’s the ‘205 Live’ guys.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I think ‘205 Live’ is the ultimate underdog story. This isn’t a knock on any other brands; you have your stars on ‘Raw,’ you have your stars on ‘SmackDown Live,’ and I almost feel like NXT already has this amazing face to continue building stars, but ‘205 Live,’ that is not the case. There is no foundation. We are not capitalizing off of stars.”
― Mustafa Ali
“It doesn’t matter if there are 500 people in the stands or 50,000 people, the ‘205 Live’ guys stick to the script and tear it down each night.”
― Mustafa Ali
“The biggest thing with the ‘205’ guys is that we are trying to build the brand and each other, which makes it more difficult, but we are all stepping up to the plate.”
― Mustafa Ali
“Prior to the Cruiserweight Classic, I had a tryout with WWE in 2013 and was told that I wasn’t what they were looking for at the moment.”
― Mustafa Ali
“Mustafa Ali is who I wanted to see when I was growing up. I’m not wearing anything on my head; I’m not saying anything in Arabic. I’m just going to come out as Mustafa Ali.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I want the next 16-year-old kid who looks like me to know he’s not automatically the bad guy. Hopefully, that kid can look at Mustafa Ali and say, ‘Hey, he’s not the bad guy, and I don’t have to be, either.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“I loved wrestling, and I wanted to go out and entertain people and all that stuff, so I get trained, and when they decided, ‘Hey, you’re ready for a match, and you’ve got to start thinking about a character,’ I was thinking this guy and this guy, and they go, ‘No, no, no – you’re a Muslim. You’ve got to be a bad guy.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“I was like, ‘Hey, I love highflying. I love lucha libre. Can I just put on a mask and pass myself off as a luchador?’ Everyone was like, ‘You’re going to do what you want to do,’ so that’s what I did for the first four or five years. I just put on a mask and pretended to be this luchador.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I’m oddly comfortable in the ring.”
― Mustafa Ali
“If I hear about a big match coming up, I’ll get anxiety about it, and I’ll start thinking about it, like, ‘What’s gonna happen? Is this my shot?’”
― Mustafa Ali
“I’ve had nights where it’s very obvious that I’m the good guy, but I’m still booed, and you can kind of make a checklist about reasons why they’re booing me, and one of the evident ones is because of my name and where I’m from.”
― Mustafa Ali
“What people don’t realize here in WWE is, you can go out in any company, and you can have these crazy, five-star matches, and you can do all this stuff, and you don’t have chains on you. The trick in WWE is to do it within this confined little box.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I’m a proud Muslim. I’m proud to have a Pakistani origin. And I want this country to accept me. I want to bring to light the fact that we are all the same.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I think being the only Pakistani wrestler in WWE will bring some attention from the country as well. I’ll do my best to do Pakistan proud and give them something to cheer about.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I will always rep ‘205 Live.’ I will always support ‘205 Live.’ I will always be the heart of ‘205 Live.’ I will always be watching because you will never know when the heart of ‘205 Live’ will beat again.”
― Mustafa Ali
“One week, you’re facing Daniel Bryan, and next week, you’re teaming with AJ Styles. You’re in the ring with the best in the world. Part of me wants to tell myself they don’t just put anybody in the ring with them. I obviously want to be as good as them, and I feel like I can be and I can hang with them.”
― Mustafa Ali
“Nothing hits harder than that: nothing more frustrating than your body giving up on you before your heart does.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I still hold that pen; I still write my own story. So it’s going to take a whole lot more than Samoa Joe running me over. And it’s going to take more than Randy Orton kicking my face in. It’s going to take more than Erick Rowan slamming my head through a table. You guys keep trying to put me down, but I will not stay down.”
― Mustafa Ali
“At a young age, I was very aware I was different and not perceived in a good way. For a lot of my adolescence, I struggled with that, trying to identify where I belong and who my real friends are.”
― Mustafa Ali
“Every single person in the Chicago independent scene said, ‘You’ve got to be a bad guy. You’re a Muslim. We’re gonna make money. We’re gonna call you Sheik Abdullah something. You’re gonna wear a turban.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“Instead of pondering about what if or what could have been, I’m just going to go out there and do.”
― Mustafa Ali
“All the love in the world for Kofi Kingston, but I’m coming back for my spot.”
― Mustafa Ali
“My wife herself had an upbringing where she wasn’t allowed to pursue what she wanted to do because of her parents. She wanted to go into photography and journalism, but because classes ran so late, she had to be home at a certain time. We don’t want that for our daughter.”
― Mustafa Ali
“My daughter’s absolute go-to is Sasha Banks. However, we did do the ‘Dance Break’ one time in Chicago, so she keeps talking about Carmella.”
― Mustafa Ali
“A lot of people will comment, ‘All the high flying will catch up to you.’ I think any form of wrestling will catch up to you.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I feel comfortable in the air, me as a person. I feel very in control of my body. You can toss me from the weirdest angle. I just know where I’m at. I don’t even know how to explain it.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I do this maneuver, my finishing maneuver. It’s called the 054, and it’s a 450 splash, but it’s going backwards. I know my opponents aren’t going to be thrilled to hear this, but I don’t know what I’m doing up there. I literally close my eyes, and I just jump, and my body just takes over, and thankfully I haven’t hurt anybody.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I’ve seen guys get hurt from strikes. I’ve seen guys get hurt from flips. It’s the risk we take. I feel the fear of getting hurt will get you hurt.”
― Mustafa Ali
“What happened was like any guy on the indie scene – I’ve been wrestling for 16 years; everybody thinks I’m this new, young. I’m like, ‘I’m 32. I’ve been at it for 16 years. I just couldn’t get to the next level.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“Lince Dorado and I go way back.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I was in high school after 9/11 happened. I didn’t get bullied. I didn’t get treated differently, but I definitely felt people looked at me differently.”
― Mustafa Ali
“When 9/11 happened, it affected everything. It affected me. I’m an American, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is evil. This is terrible.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“I didn’t get targeted in high school for being a Muslim – it wasn’t that – but I always felt like an outsider in that sense.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I was like, ‘Prince, prince. Prince Ali. People know that from ‘Aladdin.’ I’m a big fan of Muhammad Ali. I can’t be Muhammad Ali. I’m looking up royal – Mustafa. Mustafa’s a royal name. Prince Mustafa, OK fine.’ Prince Mustafa Ali came from that, and it’s an easier name for people to remember, too: Prince Ali.”
― Mustafa Ali
“One of the funny lines that Daniel Bryan said in a promo is that he made fun of me for driving in an SUV, and he asked why such a small man like myself needs to drive an SUV, but we’re standing literally eye to eye, and I’m like, ‘Ummm.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“Anything worth changing is not easy to change.”
― Mustafa Ali
“People like things that make sense to them; your perspective is your reality.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I feel it’s a lot easier to hate or dislike someone that you see as different. It is a lot harder to hate them when you see they are just the exact same as you.”
― Mustafa Ali
“My entire life, I’ve had one mission to prove. It doesn’t matter what your name is. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. It doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is. All that matters is what’s in your heart.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I’ve always had this sense of responsibility to do what I can to help fix the world and help make this a better place to live.”
― Mustafa Ali
“The whole idea of ‘Secret Life of Muslims’ is that we’re just ordinary people. We’re your neighbors; we’re your coworkers. We like coffee, you know? We’re everyday normal people with hopes and aspirations and fears.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I want to be the physical embodiment of light, you know? And I feel like now people know, when they see the lights go off and this light-up figure appear on stage, they know that’s Mustafa Ali.”
― Mustafa Ali
“It took me 16 years to get to the WWE. And the reason for that is that I did it – I don’t want to call it the responsible way, but I’m going to call it the responsible way. I went to school, I worked multiple jobs, and yeah, I chased my dream.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I can’t tell you the amount of support I’m getting from WWE. They’re allowing me to express myself freely, they’re promoting me, and they’re letting me be me.”
― Mustafa Ali
“If anything, who I am and my background helped propel me and helped me stand out.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I am from Chicago, but my dad is from Karachi, Pakistan, and my mom is from New Delhi, India. So, I’ve got a little Paki-Indie fusion going on here.”
― Mustafa Ali
“My mom said, ‘You are reckless, and you need to get married.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’”
― Mustafa Ali
“Embrace your colour, heritage, whatever you want, but don’t let it confine you. Just live without labels.”
― Mustafa Ali
“I feel like a lot of Indian fans don’t know about my Indian background, so it’s funny online that a lot of fans call me this Pakistani dude. No, I’m Indian, too.”
― Mustafa Ali
“A lot of people don’t know that I’m actually half Indian.”
― Mustafa Ali
“If you ever dissect ‘205,’ take a hard look at it, it’s always been a fantastic show. Regardless of what’s been going on, the wrestling has been the best not only in the company but on the planet. The only critique, if you really dissect it, is that the crowd isn’t into it; the crowd doesn’t care.”
― Mustafa Ali
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