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Adeel Alam was born on March 28, 1986. He's made headlines since he joined 205 Live, the Cruiserweight brand of WWE and currently performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Mustafa Ali.
While he wanted to become a wrestler since a young age, he had to go through a lot in his childhood and early days as a wrestler to get where he is today.
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Alam started off by working on many different promotions which included Dreamwave Wrestling, where he was a former Dreamwave Alternative Champion and Dreamwave Heavyweight Champion.
Apart from that, he was also a part of All American Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance, GALLI Lucha Libre, IWA Mid-South, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and Proving Ground Pro.
He is yet to win a championship in the WWE even though he has been a part of the promotion since 2016 and has had a few matches for the Cruiserweight Championship. However, he is now on SmackDown where he seems to be getting a good push.
Many fans are curious about who Mustafa Ali is, where he is from, and why he is getting such a push on SmackDown Live. Check out 5 interesting facts about the high-flying superstar, and get to know more about him!
#5 He was a police officer
Ali wanted to become a pro wrestler since a very young age, and tried to get into the business early.
He wrestled during the day, and during the night he would go on to work night shifts as a police officer. It was a very tough task but he had to do so because his father had passed and he wanted to secure a steady income for his household.
"Yeah, it sucked, man" Ali told ESPN.com when asked how he could squeeze this chaotic life into 24 hours. "There were days I'd wrestle at 9 o'clock, and afterwards, 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."
#4 He is of Indian and Pakistani descent
Mustafa Ali may have been born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, but he is actually of sub-continental origin. His father was from Karachi, Pakistan, while his mother is from New Dehli, India.
Even though the two countries may seem to not co-exist well, his parents managed to erase the boundaries and get married have given birth to such a talented son.
He has revealed that he has been to India when he was 14 years old, yet a lot of people believe that he simply represents Pakistan. He's said the following in an interview:
I have friends in Bangalore, although my father was born in Pakistan this actually makes me half-Indian. You know I loved my time in India, and maybe I might represent India in the future as a wrestler.
He elaborated, saying
What I believe is that nationality of a person is not important, what is important, however, is humanity and unity between people around the world. I would never put the flag over the flesh, the person is more important than the nationality.
On January 25, 2017, prior to his debut on 205 Live, Alam was criticized for not displaying a Pakistani flag and representing his country by his Pakistani fans.
#3 He used to wear a mask
It should come as no surprise that Adeel Alam had to hide his identity during the beginning of his wrestling career.
The reason for that was beyond his control, as all the wrestling promoters wanted to stereotype his as soon as they learned that he was a Muslim with Pakistani heritage, and wanted him to play a Muslim heel character.
To get away from this, Mustafa Ali ended up acting as a face and started wrestling under a mask. He pretended to be a Hispanic Luchador and did not reveal his real identity to the crowd.
However, he soon had to give in and become one half "Team Taliban" on the independent circuit.
“That was actually the idea of a promoter who wanted me to play a terrorist type of a character. I was never really a fan of portraying that, so I portrayed a character that could not escape racial discrimination in America.”
Ali told The Express Tribune.
In fact, in 2009, a documentary was made on Ali and his dilemma of being a Muslim wrestler who does not want to portray a stereotypical character.
#2 He is a Bollywood fan
It's not easy getting away from the clutches of Bollywood if you have even a millilitre of subcontinental blood in your veins.
The same has been the case with Mustafa Ali, who claims he is a big fan of Bollywood movies! His best friend used to watch a lot of Indian movies and he got the Bollywood fever too in the process.
He's even gone on to learn some famous Bollywood dance moves thanks to his best friend who used to teach him while cooking in the kitchen.
He's revealed that he is a huge Shah Rukh Khan fan, like many of us, and one of his favourite movies of all time is 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' which stars his favourite Bollywood actor.
Maybe it's the Bollywood moves which keep him so athletic in the ring too!
#1 His ultimate goal was to reach WWE
Competing in WWE is the goal of almost all professional wrestlers. Mustafa Ali tried out at WWE's Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, back in 2013.
“I was told that I wrestle well, but I don’t look like what they needed at that moment.” Fast forward three years and WWE contacted him themselves when they unveiled the Cruiserweight Classic.
“To wrestle for WWE is such a huge deal to me. It’s what I grew up on. It’s what I chased for 13 years. It’s what I’ve broken bones for. It’s what I’ve missed birthdays for. To be able to live that moment of standing in a WWE ring is … I don’t know how to describe it,” he says.
Mustafa Ali was never the most well-built wrestlers, and therefore he found it tough initially. However, the focus slowly switched from tall and bulky wrestlers to those who could perform well in the ring without size being an obstacle. Here's where Ali got his chance to shine and showcase his amazing skills.
The two wrestlers who he loves the most and wants to face are Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy. Both currently share the same brand as him, and his dream of facing them could be much closer now than ever.
