mustafa ali
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5 Things You Didn’t Know About Mustafa Ali

Photo Credit: WrestleZone, Mustafa Ali sits with his daughter on a WWE ring in his hometown of Chicago, Il

#3.) He had to fight through stereotypical gimmicks

Ali started wrestling at a young age and from the get-go, independent promoters pushed for him to portray a heel, being a racist stereotype. All of this was just because Ali is a Muslim. In Lillian Garcia‘s Chasing Glory podcast, Ali said:

Every single person in the Chicago independent scene said, ‘You’ve got to be a bad guy. You’re a Muslim. We’re gonna make money. We’re gonna call you Sheik Abdullah something. You’re gonna wear a turban

Ali got so uncomfortable that he began wearing a mask and wrestling as a luchador so as to not give out his identity. Ali, unfortunately, went against his own beliefs and portrayed a terrorist-like character, being Anti-America. He even wore a turban as well. However, it disturbed Ali so deeply that he vowed to never do it again. This is why he fights even now to break stereotypes.

Next page: 5 things you need to know about Mustafa Ali

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