WWE star Mustafa Ali reveals his softer side

Pakistani-American wrestler opens up on family, career and his journey through life

KARACHI: Pakistani-American wrestler Mustafa Ali has been on a roll lately. After collecting several victories on WWE’s 205 Live show, and now being in the semi-finals of Cruiserweight Championship tournament, he has set his eyes on the opportunity to perform at WrestleMania next month.

As much as we know about Ali, never did I imagine his real name was Adeel Alam. In a video interview with Tinted, Ali discussed his name, family, and how he got into wrestling. “I am from Chicago but my dad is from Karachi, Pakistan, and my mom is from New Delhi, India,” he revealed. “So, I’ve got a little Paki-Indie fusion going on here.”

PHOTO: FILE

Ali shared that it was his father who got him interested in wrestling. “I specifically remember him putting me in his lap and we would watch Saturday Night Main Event and what not.”

The then-aspiring wrestler finally began training at the tender age of 16. “The funny story is that I was giving a presentation in class about how I was going to be a future champion and one of the guys mentioned his brother was a professional wrestler who had a school and were looking for students,” Ali recalled, adding that he went for a tryout and got accepted.

The former policeman noted that typically guys with name and background like his are cast as the bad guys in the pro-wrestling world. “So, we’re trying to change these pre-conceived ideas and knock down these barriers, these notions of what a guy with a name like Mustafa has to be portrayed as. That’s my goal.”

PHOTO: WWE

Apart from wrestling, the WWE superstar also discussed his family, sharing that he met his wife the traditional ‘arranged’ way. He said, “My mom said, ‘You are reckless, and you need to get married.’ And I was like okay.”

Ali continued, “I thought I was going to be the proper guy and look at the floor the whole time and show respect and my wife’s first words were, ‘Why are you looking at the floor?’ and then I looked up and said, ‘I can make eye contact with you?’ And then I saw the most amazing set of eyes and got hooked right there.”

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He called his four-year old daughter Amara his “best friend” and shared that he had lost his wedding ring three times. The cruiserweight division star also shared the story of the first time he brought his daughter to a live wrestling show.

PHOTO: WWE

Ali said after he won the match, he saw his daughter waving at him and he went over and took her out over the barricade and in his lap. “I had her wave to the crowd, and she was like, ‘What is going on here’?”

Ali said his favourite emoji is the expressionless one. “I don’t even know how to do it. But it’s like two lines and a straight-line – a lot of expression,” he mimicked the emoji.

In the end, Ali was asked what the word ‘tinted’ meant to him. “Embracing everything, all shades. You know everything is lines in sand so do your own thing. Embrace your colour, heritage, whatever you want but don’t let it confine you. Just live without labels,” he said. “And drink coffee.”

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