Mustafa Ali

At 38 years old, Mustafa Ali has this physical status:

Professional wrestling career

On February 2, 2003, Alam made his professional wrestling debut. He competed in various sports, including Dreamwave Wrestling, where he was a former Dreamwave Alternative Champion and Dreamwave Heavyweight Champion. He has also appeared in other sports, including All American Wrestling (AAW), Freelance Wrestling, GALLI Lucha Libre, IWA Mid-South, Jersey) and WrestleCircus. He wore a mask during his first six years as a professional wrestler so he would not be discriminated against. When doing night shifts as a police officer, he did it all during the day.

WWE announced that Mustafa Ali would replace him on June 25, 2016, after Brazilian wrestler Zumbi was unable to participate in the Cruiserweight Classic tournament due to visa difficulties. Ali was kicked out of the tournament by Lince Dorado in the first round on July 20. Ali appeared on the NXT's episode on October 26, where he and Dorado competed in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but Kota Ibushi and TJ Perkins were disqualified in the first round.

Ali made his debut for the brand on 205 Live on December 13, defeating Lince Dorado to a double countout. Ali defeated Ariya Daivari, Drew Gulak, and Tony Nese on January 23, 2017, combining Ali and Jack Gallagher and TJ Perkins to defeat Ariya Daivari, Drew Gulak, and Tony Nese. Ali first feud with Drew Gulak began when Gulak launched his "No Fly Zone" campaign on 205 Live. Ali won in a two-out-of-three falls brawl on July 18 episode of 205 Live, and the feud came to an end. Ali began competing in the Cruiserweight Championship tournament in February 2018, defeating Gentleman Jack Gallagher in the first round, Buddy Murphy in the quarterfinals, and Drew Gulak in the semi-finals to advance to the final at WrestleMania 34. Ali lost to Cedric Alexander at WrestleMania on April 8, defeating the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Ali then began a feud with Hideo Itami, who interfered in his match against Buddy Murphy. Ali went to Itami and collapsed shortly after, effectively ending him from action for a short time. Ali defeated Itami in a falls count anywhere match to put an end to the feud on October 24th of 205 Live. Ali defeated Tony Nese on the October 31 episode of 205 Live, becoming the top contender for the Cruiserweight Championship, but he failed to win the title from Buddy Murphy at Survivor Series.

Ali attracted WWE Chairman Vince McMahon's attention when he first appeared on 205 Live, who decided to put him on the SmackDown brand. According to former WWE writer Kazeem Famuyide, then-WWE champion Daniel Bryan, who argued that all the babyfaces they had were younger than 40 years old, and that the boss chose Ali for this campaign. Ali made his first appearance on SmackDown Live on December 11, 2018, where he confronted Daniel Bryan and then lost to him later that night. Ali was confirmed as a full-time SmackDown roster member and teaming with AJ Styles to defeat Daniel Bryan and Andrade "Cien" Almas in a tag team match the following week, after Ali pinned Bryan. Ali appeared in the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2019, knocking out Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe and ending it with a few minutes before being dismissed by Nia Jax. Ali had been supposed to participate in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship at namesake, which would have been his first world championship match; however, he was forced to withdraw due to a legit injury and replaced by Kofi Kingston. Ali returned to Fastlane for the last minute as a last-minute replacement in the WWE Championship match between Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens, which Ali lost after being pinned by Bryan. On March 25, 2019, his ring name was changed to "Ali."

Ali was competing in the ladder competition at the Money in the Bank on May 19, which he didn't win after a returning Brock Lesnar won the match. Ali had initially intended to win the match but was told by Vince McMahon not to obtain the briefcase before he made his entry to the ring. This decision caused a lot of controversies amongst followers, but Ali denied that it had not bothered them. Ali will face the Queen of the 51-man fight royal at Super Showdown next month, but will not win. Ali failed to win the Intercontinental Championship from Shinsuke Nakamura at Smackville, Japan. Ali qualified in the King of the Ring tournament in August, defeating Buddy Murphy in the first round but losing to Elias in the quarterfinals. Ali lost to Randy Orton in a Cell match at the Hell in a Cell event. Ali participated in a ten-man tag team competition against Team Hogan at the Crown Jewel Exhibition, coming out victorious over Team Flair. On November 13, his name was changed to "Mustafa Ali." Ali was eliminated by Seth Rollins from Team SmackDown at Survivor Series, but his team won the match. Ali will be banned from television following this, focusing primarily on dark matches and live broadcasts.

Ali returned from television on July 20, 2020, defeating MVP, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin, thereby moving to the Raw brand. Ali later began to compete on WWE Main Event, winnings over Ricochet and Akira Tozawa's likes. Ali will return to in ring action by collaborating with Ricochet and Apollo Crews on September 28 and defeat The Hurt Business after Ali used the 450 splash to pin MVP.

Ali retaliated as the commander of the stable Retribution on the October 5 episode of Raw. Ali will be introduced as the enigmatic hacker who was posting messages on SmackDown for months on October 19 on episode 19 of Raw. Ali and Retaliation would be defeated by The Hurt Company in an eight-man tag team match the night before. Retribution will now lose to The Hurt Business in an elimination match, bringing an end to the feud. Following this, Retribution will target Ricochet, with each participant, including Ali, defeating him in singles matches over the next two weeks on Raw. Thenon is back, with The New Day, or more specifically, Kofi Kingston, after Ali accused Kingston of "stealing" his WrestleMania opportunity two years ago when he was hospitalized. Ali would appear at number 4 and managed to depose Xavier Woods before being defeated by Big E at the Royal Rumble.

Ali faced Riddle for the United States Championship on March 15, but was unsuccessful in winning the title. In a title rematch at Fastlane, he met Riddle but was unsuccessful once more. Reckoning and Slapjack walked out on the field, while Mace and T-Bar assaulted him, effectively ending Retribution.

Ali was stabbed during his first match since Retribution's disbandment, resulting in a match against McIntyre, who came victorious. Ali revived his rivalry with Ricochet on Main Event, where the two players met in a series of matches that culminated in a 2-out-of-3 falls match in which Ali was defeated. Ali began a storyline with Mansoor in June, threatening to convince him that the majority of WWE stars were "backstabbers," "would do something just to get forward," and "cheaters," resulting in a match between Mansoor and Mansoor that ended in a pinfall loss after outsmarting him by faking a knee injury. Ali teamed with Mansoor on July 26 in a rare episode of Raw, where they defeated T-Bar and Mace, effectively turning him on.

Ali was designed to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2021 Draft. Ali berated and assaulted Mansoor in the backstage after losing to The Hurt Company, reverting to a heel and thus ending his friendship with Mansoor; demanding him to a match at Crown Jewel later that night. Ali suffered to Mansoor, and Tareg Hamedi, a karate silver medalist, was kicked off the field. Ali defeated Mansoor in a rematch on SmackDown the next night, but was again defeated. Ali will be defeated by Drew McIntyre in the next week's episode of SmackDown, and shortly after that will be removed from television.

Mustafa Ali had publicly requested his freedom from WWE on January 16, 2022, but Vince McMahon had refused to let him leave the company. Ali returned to television on April 25 of Raw as a face and defeated The Miz, just a few months later. Ciampa will threaten him after the match. Raw, Mustafa Ali's broadcast on May 2 interrupted Miz TV and ordered a United States Championship shot. Theory was accepted by the Miz, but the match was turned into a 2-on-1 handicap match by The Miz's companion. The Miz defeated Mustafa Ali in a Skull Crushing Finale. Ali will eventually face the United States Championship at Hell In A Cell, which was an unsuccessful attempt. Ali confronted Seth Rollins on the tenth of the season on October 17 and sparked an attack.

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