Chicago’s Mustafa Ali is excited to be wrestling in front of live crowds again. After more than a year of performing for virtual fans, WWE’s professional wrestlers are on the road again.
“The live audience is what we feed off of — that energy,” said Ali, whose real name is Adeel Alam. “Nothing compares to getting a reaction from the live crowd from something that you’ve done, whether it’s something you planned, something you did on the fly. That genuine reaction, that immediate, instant gratification of being an artist and creating something and having the feedback instantaneously, there’s nothing in the world that can replicate that.”
It wasn’t so long ago that he was working in front of a very different crowd, spending four years as a Homewood police officer. So when he returned to the area Monday night for the WWE’s live broadcast of “Monday Night Raw” at Rosemont’s Allstate Arena, it was a special treat for Ali, whose family has long called west suburbs such as Bolingbrook, Lombard, Villa Park and Woodridge home.
“It’s definitely cool for me,” Ali said. “The Allstate Arena is where I went to watch this. I remember being on the independent scene and driving past the arena while I’m on my way to some local indie show, like, ‘One day I’m going to be the main event at Allstate Arena.'”
Ali did not have to wait too long for that honor. Shortly after he was called up to the WWE’s SmackDown brand in 2018, he worked his first event in Rosemont, competing against established wrestlers Daniel Bryan and The Miz.
“I remember walking into Allstate Arena and seeing the lineup,” Ali recalled. “I originally thought they were playing a joke on me. ‘Oh, the new guy’s in the main event.’ I remember looking around and they go, ‘No dude, you’re in the main event, for the title.’ I literally was driving down this road a year and a half ago saying ‘one day,’ and here I am.
“It’s just cool. I’m literally in the ring performing, and I’ll look out to the crowd and see friends and family I’ve known my entire life. I’ll see competitors I’ve wrestled on the independent scene in the crowd, so it’s kind of like a full circle for me.”
Ali grew up the youngest of three children to a mother from India and a father from Pakistan who made Chicago home before moving to the suburbs. It was Ali’s late father who originally turned him on to pro wrestling.
Ali went to college and worked full-time jobs, but he dreamed of one day being in the WWE and started working the independent wrestling scene.
“When I would close my eyes, I would see it,” Ali said. “I would see myself competing at WrestleMania. I would see myself climbing the ladder and getting the title or electrifying this crowd. But when I’d open my eyes, reality would hit me.”
The reality was that WWE was then considered the “land of the giants,” and Ali is billed at just 5-foot-10, 183 pounds. In fact, he had a tryout with WWE years ago, after which he was “politely told no.”
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“I had wrapped up that dream and was going to focus on real life, so to speak,” Ali said.
“I never really thought it would happen.”
He had gotten married, had his first child and changed career paths and was hired as a police officer in Homewood.
“At its core, it’s a noble profession — to protect and to serve and to put your life on the line,” Ali said.
“For four years, I did the job like I thought it was supposed to be: very noble. I’m here to serve.”
Ali kept his wrestling passions to himself, family and friends. He took midnight shifts so he could continue to take wrestling bookings at 9 or 10 p.m.
“Frantically, without showering, just throwing on some sweatpants, jumping in my car, racing to the police station to start my midnight shift, I would slide in … 30 seconds or a minute before roll call started,” he said. “I’ve got scratches on my face. Sometimes I have a black eye. I’m all sweaty.”
Finally, a commanding officer asked him why he was late and came in with scratches and a uniform that was not ironed. Ali lied. He told them he was learning to box.
“He’s kind of sizing me up and looking at me,” Ali recalled. “He leans in real close and he goes, ‘You must be one terrible boxer.’ ‘Yep, yes sir.'”
His colleagues eventually learned his secret when a dispatcher saw him compete in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic. But by that point, Ali had one foot in the door of his dream job. Soon after, he turned up on the NXT brand. He finally got a chance to make a name for himself as “the heart of 205 Live,” WWE’s cruiserweight program, and the dream became a reality.
But he still looks back on lessons learned from his time in Homewood.
“The biggest thing that I’ve taken away from that profession is empathy,” Ali said. “I’ve met people I probably never would have met — addicts, drug dealers, drug users, domestic abuse problems. I’ve met people at their worst moment — they’ve lost a loved one or committed a heinous crime. I’ve met them at their absolute lowest point. What I’ve walked away with is a sense of empathy. What I realized is everybody’s got something going on, everybody’s got a problem, everyone’s got troubles. Sometimes just a smile and a helping hand is all they need.”
Mondays as of late are showtime for Ali, but Tuesdays may be just as special. That is the day he gets home to see his wife, 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, with a third on the way.
“Tuesdays are really cool,” he said. “Tuesday morning when I come back home I feel like I get a WrestleMania entrance when I walk into the door. They call me Baba. ‘Oh, Baba’s home!’ They’ll throw confetti on me and jump on me.'”
Monday’s homecoming also gave Ali an extra chance to see his family, who he planned to bring out to the show. Ali’s daughter is quickly becoming a wrestling fan and entertainer in her own right, he said. His son can be shy but also aggressive when they play wrestle.
“They get it,” he said. “I’ve always prided myself on being the good guy. In my role in WWE right now, I’m kind of being portrayed as the bad guy. That’s the only time I had to have a real talk with my daughter and son, like, ‘Listen, when Baba’s doing this he’s acting. When there’s a story, there’s a good guy and a bad guy. Baba wants people to learn about the good lessons, so he’s just playing right now. He’s just being the bad guy. They get it. They interact with me enough to know I’m not the bad guy in real life.”
Ali has always been conscious of how he appears on television. He has tried to steer clear of stereotypes in an industry that has historically relied upon them.
“I just feel like my name and how I look defines me sometimes, when it should be my talent, my skill, my work ethic,” Ali said. “I’m always rooting for whatever barrier we can knock down.”
He said there has been “a lot of progress” made not only in wrestling but the world at large when it comes to representation. He wants to see that remain a priority. But the climate in WWE is undoubtedly at a high tide, Ali said, pointing as an example to this year’s WrestleMania main event, which for the first time featured two Black women.
“If you look at it as a whole, speaking of WWE specifically here, we have the most culturally diverse locker room in the company’s history. Look at how many countries and languages and different backgrounds and orientations and religions we have under one roof right now,” he said. “It’s astonishing.”
Among them is Mansoor, the first Saudi wrestler to ever perform with WWE. Ali has formed a shaky tag team relationship with him in recent weeks, with Mansoor playing the happy-go-lucky newcomer and Ali the reluctant mentor.
It is the latest saga in a dream Ali never truly expected to come true. He can now be seen at 7 p.m. Monday evenings on USA Network.
“I’m very, very blessed,” he said. “I know I put in the work. I know I deserve to be here, but at the same time I never really thought it was going to happen.”
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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