Mustafa Ali (wrestler)

Alam made his professional wrestling debut on February 2, 2003. He worked in various promotions, including Dreamwave Wrestling, where he was a former Dreamwave Alternative Champion and Dreamwave Heavyweight Champion. He also appeared in other promotions, including All American Wrestling (AAW), Freelance Wrestling, GALLI Lucha Libre, IWA Mid-South, Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Proving Ground Pro, and WrestleCircus. During his first six years as a professional wrestler, he used a mask so he would not face discrimination.[13] He did it all during the day while working night shifts as a police officer.[14]

Ali making his entrance at WrestleMania 34, in April 2018

On June 25, 2016, after Brazilian wrestler Zumbi was not able to participate in the Cruiserweight Classic tournament due to visa issues, WWE announced that Mustafa Ali would replace him.[15] On July 20, Ali was eliminated from the tournament by Lince Dorado in the first round.[16] Ali appeared on the October 26 episode of NXT, where he and Dorado entered the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but were eliminated by Kota Ibushi and TJ Perkins in the first round.[17]

On the December 13 episode of 205 Live, Ali made his debut for the brand, wrestling Lince Dorado to a double countout.[18] On January 23, 2017, Ali made his Raw debut, teamed with Jack Gallagher and TJ Perkins to defeat Ariya Daivari, Drew Gulak, and Tony Nese.[19] Ali began feuding with Drew Gulak, when Gulak began his "No Fly Zone" campaign on 205 Live.[20][21] The feud culminated in a two-out-of-three falls match on July 18 episode of 205 Live, which Ali won.[22] In February 2018, Ali began participating in the Cruiserweight Championship tournament; he defeated Gentleman Jack Gallagher in the first round,[23] Buddy Murphy in the quarterfinals,[24] and Drew Gulak in the semi-finals to advance to the final at the WrestleMania 34.[25] At WrestleMania on April 8, Ali lost to Cedric Alexander, failed to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.[26] Ali then started a rivalry with Hideo Itami, who interfered in his match against Buddy Murphy.[27] On the August 7 episode of 205 Live, Ali lost to Itami and collapsed afterwards, rendering him out of action for a short time.[28] On the October 24 episode of 205 Live, Ali defeated Itami in a falls count anywhere match to end the feud.[29] On the October 31 episode of 205 Live, Ali defeated Tony Nese to become the number one contender for the Cruiserweight Championship,[30] but failed to win the title from Buddy Murphy at Survivor Series.[31]

During his time in 205 Live, Ali gained the attention of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, who decided to put him on the SmackDown brand.[32] According to former WWE writer Kazeem Famuyide, then-WWE Champion Daniel Bryan was pushing hard backstage for a "hot young babyface" to be on television, arguing that all the babyfaces they had were pushing 40-years-old; this led to management choosing Ali for this push.[33] Ali made his first appearance on the December 11, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live, confronting Daniel Bryan and losing to him later that night.[34] The following week on SmackDown Live, 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, after Ali pinned Bryan.[35] At the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2019, Ali competed in the eponymous match, lasting 30 minutes and eliminating Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe, before being eliminated by Nia Jax.[36] In February, Ali was scheduled to compete in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship at namesake event, which would have been his first world title match; however, he was pulled out due to a legit injury, and replaced by Kofi Kingston.[37][38] Ali made his televised return at the Fastlane pay-per-view, as a last minute addition in the WWE Championship match between Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens, which Ali lost after being pinned by Bryan.[39][40] On March 25, 2019, his ring name was shortened to Ali.[2]

At the Money in the Bank on May 19, Ali competed in the ladder match,[41] which he failed to win, after a returning Brock Lesnar won the match.[42] The following month, Ali would compete in the 51-man battle royal at Super ShowDown, but would fail to win.[43][44] At Smackville, Ali failed to capture the Intercontinental Championship, from Shinsuke Nakamura.[45] In August, Ali competed in the King of the Ring tournament, where he defeated Buddy Murphy in the first round,[46] but lost to Elias in the quarterfinals.[47] At the Hell in a Cell event, Ali lost to Randy Orton.[48] At the Crown Jewel event, Ali competed in a ten-man tag team match as a part of Team Hogan, coming out victorious against Team Flair.[49] On November 13, his name was reverted to Mustafa Ali.[50] At Survivor Series, Ali competed as a member of Team SmackDown, and was eliminated by Seth Rollins, however, his team won the match.[51] Following this, Ali would be taken off television, wrestling primarily on dark matches and live events.[52]

After a seven-month hiatus from television, Ali returned on the July 20, 2020 episode of Raw, teaming with Cedric Alexander and Ricochet to defeat MVP, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin.[53] thus moving to the Raw brand.[54] After moving to the Raw brand, Ali later began competing on WWE Main Event, trading victories in matches over the likes of Ricochet and Akira Tozawa. On the September 28 episode of Raw, Ali would return to in ring action by teaming with Ricochet and Apollo Crews and they would go on to defeat The Hurt Business after Ali used the 450 splash to pin MVP.

On the October 5 episode of Raw, Ali was revealed as the leader of the stable Retribution after he ordered them to attack The Hurt Business during his match with MVP, turning heel for the first time in his WWE career.[55] On the October 19 episode of Raw, Ali would reveal himself as the mysterious hacker that was sending messages on SmackDown for months. That same night, Ali and Retribution would be defeated by The Hurt Business in an eight-man tag team match.[56][57] The following week on Raw, Retribution would once again lose to The Hurt Business in a elimination match, ending the feud. Following this, Retribution would set their sights on Ricochet with each member, including Ali, defeating him in singles matches over the next few weeks on Raw. Afterwards, Retribution would begin a feud with The New Day or more specifically, Kofi Kingston after Ali blamed Kingston for "stealing" his WrestleMania opportunity two years prior while he was injured. At the Royal Rumble, Ali would enter at number 4 and managed to eliminate Xavier Woods before being eliminated by Big E.