Mustafa Ali Q&A: Kofi Kingston, WrestleMania Plans, 2020 Being His Year and More

After becoming The Heart of 205 Live, Mustafa Ali has made a successful transition to SmackDown Live, challenging for the WWE Championship at the 2019 edition of Fastlane.

Ali showed the WWE Universe what he was capable of in the ring during the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016, but it wasn't until he made the transition to 205 Live that he was able to show the depth of his character and his ability to cut an elite promo.

While he made the jump to the main roster in December to fight Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship, an injury forced him out of the 2019 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, opening the door for Kofi Kingston to shine in his place. Ali was added late to Bryan vs. Kevin Owens at Sunday's Fastlane pay-per-view, but he came up short.

Ali spoke to Bleacher Report about his opportunities with WWE, his efforts to change the perception of Muslims in the wrestling industry and beyond, why 2020 will be his year to shine and more.

Bleacher Report: At Fastlane, you had the opportunity to compete for the WWE Championship and were initially met with a negative reaction to start the match, before turning the crowd in your favor. Did you anticipate this reaction, and how meaningful is it for you that you were able to sway the crowd through your amazing performance?

Mustafa Ali: Going into the match, this has been my story since I have been on SmackDown Live. I don't know anything that's going to happen until it's happening. I didn't even know I was in the match until an hour before.

I'm frantically trying to get ready and get my mind ready for this championship match, and then it dawns on me that they are probably going to boo me. Everyone, including myself, is all about Kofi-Mania. Seeing Kofi treated the way that he is being treated right now by the McMahon family, it's very clear that the WWE Universe wants Kofi.

I had to remind myself who I was: 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.

Obviously, this was a much bigger stage, and knowing who I am, I knew they were going to boo me. I will be walking into the arena getting booed, but by the end of the night, I am going to walk out getting cheered. That has been the story my entire life. Last night, despite it being incredibly more difficult and the pressure at an insane level, it was still like every other night of the last 15 years. Tough spots seem to find me, but somehow, I always manage to shine through.

BR: The evolution of your character from a generic Middle Eastern heel to one of the top babyfaces in WWE is truly inspiring, but what kind of backlash did you endure while trying to overcome the stereotypes?

Ali: It's very hard. Anything worth changing is not easy to change.

People like things that make sense to them; your perspective is your reality. So, if I am a man with the name Mustafa Ali, and I am not from where you perceive to be America, you want to boo me. I am out to change that. The initial character was playing on those stereotypes and playing off of those biases. When I decided to go against the grain, fans initially weren't receptive to it because it wasn't the norm or what they are used to.

Through a lot of hard work, you can boo someone all you want, but when you watch them literally give everything they have in the ring, you can't help but start showing some respect towards them. "I don't like him, but I will respect him." Respect slowly turns into admiration. Admiration turns into genuine love, and now you are cheering for the guy you were once booing.

BR: A lot of negative stereotypes exist in the United States when it comes to Muslim culture, and it isn't often that Muslim people get a chance to change that on a stage as big as the one you have in WWE. Given the platform and opportunity you have, how much pressure do you put on yourself to change the perception?

Ali: Obviously, in what we do there is enough pressure that comes with that. I had a good talk with my friend Lilian Garcia, and she had said something that was so profound that I always held it close to my heart. She said, "Try to not make things bigger than they are." For me, to think I am going to be the one that changes the way people perceive Muslims, that's a pretty immense responsibility.

Instead, I am going to go out and do what I can within my realm, my industry and my performance. This way, when people go, "Hey that Mustafa Ali guy, he is just like me. He has a daughter too? Oh, he used to be a cop? He is married? He has a son?"

I am just trying to normalize myself to people. 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. I have a lot of things to overcome right now with being the new guy on the block, Middle Eastern background with stereotypes and preconceived ideas within our society; it's a battle almost every night.

I am willing to fight those, but I'm trying not to make those bigger than they are. I am out there to perform and do what I love doing. If I can change some people's minds in the process and have them open more about people that look like me and have a name like mine, then that is just the icing on the cake.

BR: You've become a significant player on SmackDown in such a short period of time, but you ran into some bad luck recently with an injury knocking you out of Elimination Chamber. How has the adversity you've faced in life and throughout your career helped you bounce back from that and refocus?

Ali: The injury, I won't lie; it was pretty tough thing to go through in the sense that your body gives up on you before your heart does.

Hearing that you are going to be in a championship match at a PPV, and you have a lot of buzz surrounding you because you are the wild card people aren't sure if they can bet on yet. Then you are in a ring with guys you looked up to and watched your entire life; I was more than looking forward to it. To have that injury and have that taken away was an issue I was trying to push through. I've been dealing with some personal injuries, and it just got to the point where WWE told me my well-being is a lot more important than making this match.

Talking to any guy in the back, being a competitor, you want to go out and perform no matter what. If I can tape it up or sew this shut, send me back out there. That is the mentality, but WWE refused to let me compete. They thought it was best to let the injuries heal up, and looking back on it, they were right. Had I gone into that match not at 100 percent, I probably would have come out a lot worse.

All the love in the world for Kofi and his gauntlet match and the chamber match, but as a performer, it is so hard to watch someone replace you and absolutely kill it. In your mind, you know you could have delivered just the same. You know if you had the opportunity to fill that role, you would have also knocked it out of the park.

Kofi caught lightning in a bottle and Kofi-Mania is running wild, all of that is awesome. As a performer, I got all the love and respect in the world for Kofi and I am glad this is happening for him, but I forever will have to walk around with the question of "what if?" What if I wasn't injured? What if I did compete in the gauntlet match? What if I was in the chamber match? Would I be the WWE champion today? I have to ask "what if?" all the time. I'm gonna put this one behind me and move on.

I put my best foot forward at Fastlane, and I think I got a lot of people's attention on me. They saw that I am a player and a future WWE champion.

BR: In one year, you went from the preshow at WrestleMania 34 to now involved in some of the top storylines heading into WrestleMania 35. Did you envision this would be where you'd be this year and what are you looking forward to most for WrestleMania weekend?

Ali: 2018 was wild for me because I think I really found my groove on 205 Live. Then I got to compete at WrestleMania, Royal Rumble this year and Survivor Series. 2018 was really a year for me to find my groove, and I know who I am and what I am capable of doing and how I want myself presented to the audience.

I think 2019 will be me having to prove that on a larger stage. On 205 Live, it was shown without a question that I was a player and a pillar in that division that you can count on. I think in 2019, I have to do that now on the SmackDown Live branch. It's new opponents, new faces; the WWE Universe might not be familiar with my work on 205 Live, so I think this is a year for me to reintroduce myself.

I think I am going to do that at WrestleMania. I don't know what the plans are, but I hope I have an opportunity. No matter what it is, I am going to steal the show.

I am calling it now and calling my shot, 2020 is my year. 2019 I am going to reintroduce myself, then 2020 is the year of Mustafa Ali.

BR: One of my favorite stories was when you gave a little girl who wore a similar mask for medical purposes one of your custom light-up masks. What has it been like to make such a huge impact on the WWE Universe?

Ali: I try not to make things bigger than they are, but I gave that girl a light up mask because she wrote me this really nice message about her wearing this mask to help her with her medical condition. She told me a lot of people stare at her and make her feel really uncomfortable, but then saw my mask and thought it was really cool.

So initially, she was writing me a thank you letter by saying thank you for making this look cool. To me, the first instinct to me was, "If you are feeling uncomfortable in your mask and you think mine is cool, I want you to feel comfortable, so here, have mine." I just think it's how I am wired. I've got kids, I see how my daughter loves Elsa and Frozen, we go to Disney on Ice, and she is just mesmerized by it. So, I totally get it with my daughter, and I know how she looks at people and thinks, "Man, it would be so cool if Elsa would sign my poster." So, I always get it and understand it.

Being a kid and a fan of pro wrestling myself, I know what I would do if Jeff Hardy walked by me. With all this stuff going on, I go by a saying, "Be the light in a world of darkness." I really want to embody that, not just in the ring; I want to be that person outside of the ring too. This is the only way we are going to make it. Life is pretty hard; let's try to make it a little less hard. Let's just be kind to each other.

BR: Recently, you teamed up with Emmy and Peabody-nominated docu-series The Secret Life of Muslims. What were you hoping to accomplish by sharing your story to a worldwide audience?

Ali: You know, what I was hoping to accomplish is what the entire series is all about: showing that there's these normal Muslims, despite what you see in the media, despite these preconceived ideas that one might have about Muslims. We are normal, everyday people with hopes and dreams. We're funny, we're not funny, we have fears just like you. We're everyday people. We're the same person you see when you look into the mirror.

That was the goal, to make everyone realize we are all one.

You can see Ali telling his story on The Secret Life of Muslims at SecretLifeofMuslims.com. In the new season of the series, Ali talks about his rise to the top in WWE and overcoming Muslim stereotypes.

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