In Ali We Trust

Adam Brooks (c) VS Mustafa Ali - OPW Heavyweight Championship 9/22/2024

JJZ: Did not expect to take Ali in this direction but boy did this match over deliver for me. I'm sure I've seen Adam Brooks before but can't recall. Maybe NXT UK? I dunno. I think one of the best things about Ali is he seems like he has chemistry with everyone no matter what their style is. The smoothness between the two was almost like dancing. Solid crowd that was hooked bell to bell. Brooks and Ali had some beautiful highspots that just made you say "Jesus Christ!" Both guys were determined to put on a memorable match and I believe they did.

CJD: Wow this one caught me totally out of left field. I'm pretty certain I've never seen Adam Brooks before, and that was one hell of a first impression. You mentioned how smooth this one was, that was something I noticed, but I also really appreciated how much Brooks ground Ali down. Besides one or two really cool moments, Brooks was more focused on hurting Ali than anything else. That created a great dynamic for Ali to shine and the crowd was all that much more along for the ride because of it. This could have easily been a your move/my move trade off with a big fireworks finish and everyone would have went home happy. But they elevated things a bit higher than that which I appreciated very much. It still was a bit of a big indie moves match but not in a bad way at all. It felt important and that's a credit to everything that went into it, both in and out of the ring. What a great showcase for a promotion I'm totally unfamiliar with. What is this, Friday on a Tuesday?!?

Whether They Like It Or Not, I Wanna Show You Off

Nic Nemeth (c) VS Mustafa Ali - TNA World Championship 7/21/2024

CJD: I don't know if I've watched a single Nemeth match outside of WWE. This was one hell of a crash course. This match had some really amazing highlights, but it was also very tightly worked with a nice logical flow. I know you love Ali, it was so nice to see him bring this excellent heel side of his persona. It complimented the babyface Champ perfectly. And Ziggler brought an extra sense of struggle to key moments, when you know how silky smooth he usually executes. Like a kid scuffing up a new baseball glove. This match felt like a real main course, which is impressive after featuring a bunch of great high stakes Cena matches. I think you'll really like this one my friend!

JJZ: Love that you went this way! I'm such a mark for Ali. I think WWE totally misused him after 205 Live. Side note, Ali's 205 Live run is one of the best runs of a wrestler in the 2010s! I have seen a few Nic Nemeth matches post WWE. I haven't really been into any of them....... until this one! Different than I expected. I thought it was gonna be more car crash but it brought such a story. They had the big spots but Nic and Ali built to everything and everything felt earned. I listened to a podcast with Nemeth recently and he talked about how good TNA is and how strong the locker room has been. Wouldn't mind checking out more from Impact after this.

Forever Forward Fridays

ACH VS Prince Mustafa Ali - AAW Heritage Title Tournament 1/25/2013

JJZ: This is definitely the earliest match of Ali's that I have ever seen. You can really see he had greatness in him even at a young age. I know at the time I'm writing this Ali is a heel in WWE but for me this is the first time I've seen him wrestling as a bad guy. I guess I shouldn't be surprised how natural he seems as a heel considering he is able to play such a sympathetic babyface. ACH is someone that I have always been a big fan of. So much talent and not that many companies really went in on him. Except AAW of course. He was a top guy there for a large part of his career. Now this match was the first round of a tournament but honestly felt like a title match with all the risk taking and big bumps. I loved how well these two worked with each other. ACH's wow moments mixed with Ali's psychology made for a fun ride.

CJD: Ali has talked about how he's wanted to avoid playing a stereotypical ethnic heel his entire career. You can sense it here from a young age even as Prince Ali, he's working heel in a much more fundamental sense than looking for cheap heat. And like you said he's really good at it. Both guys are still a bit rough around the edges but they really put a lot of substance into this match. If I was a promoter and saw this potential I'd immediately run a longterm feud between them. Their chemistry jumps off the screen. Instead it seems like this is the only time they wrestled. The Chicago area scene fascinates me, it's always been one of the hottest territories for wrestling but their indies often fly under the radar. Glad to take a closer look the last two weeks.

Forever Forward Friday

Lio Rush VS Mustafa Ali - Freelance Walk Among Us 10/27/2016

CJD: Back to back dream opponents for Lio as far as our tastes go. Normally the audio being off on a match is a deal breaker for me, and it gets progressively worse as this one goes on, but I'll make an exception. Because these guys really busted them asses in Chicago that summer night. I don't think I've ever actually watched any Freelance before but I'm happy to feature them knowing the talent that has passed through. I could do without the commentator doing his best hardcore band vocal audition by the finishing stretch but what are you going to do. Both Rush and Ali are silky smooth in this but are also working for the W from beginning to end. Very focused, exciting, fun match here. Watching this makes me want to check back in on the Retribution stuff to see if Ali is actually salvaging it.

JJZ: This match is exactly what you said, silky smooth. Watching wrestlers performing at the top of their game is special. Special because you know when they started they were the shits wrestling in dollar store gear dreaming about main eventing for a packed crowd. I've actually watched this whole show and this match was head and shoulders above anything else that night. You can see in this match that Rush and Ali are entering that independent elite status. So I'd definitely call this an indy dream match. The only negative is that I wanted more. I liked everything besides that. Even the finish was wonderful. Hopefully we'll get to more matches of their's one day.