Deadspin put out a fantastic video in Splinter’s The Secret Life of Muslims series that stars WWE superstar Mustafa Ali. In it, he discusses why he moved on from portraying a stereotypical minority heel and the damage it can do.
“When I tuned in, anyone with middle eastern heritage was always portrayed as the bad guy, the evil foreigner and the terrorist,” said Ali. “I knew I didn’t want to do this.” That led to Ali working under a mask early on. However, he struggled to find much success on the independent circuit and eventually gave in and created a heel character: Prince Mustafa Ali.
“He had the head garb, I spoke in a foreign language, and my bookings went up. I was being flown across the country to compete,” said Ali. However, this gimmick never felt right for him and he had a moment that made him abandon it completely. “I remember seeing a young boy, maybe 6 or 7, and as I was approaching the guard rail, he jumped up and put his hands up. I remember looking into his eyes and seeing hate. I thought, did I just teach this kid to hate people that look like me?”
From there on out, Ali created his current character. “It’s who I wanted to see when I was growing up,” says the SmackDown star. While it took a while to connect with crowds and he had to prove himself. However, this has led to him changing the minds of people and have made him into the positive star he is today.
"It's a dream come true."
As a rising star in pro wrestling, Adeel Alam ditched his bad guy image and decided to become the hero he wanted to see as a kid. pic.twitter.com/DOwSvDZNMi
— Splinter (@splinter_news) March 13, 2019
