Mustafa Ali Discusses Some of the Scariest Moments in His Career

During a recent interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet, TNA Wrestling star and former WWE Superstar, Mustafa Ali, discussed some of the scariest spots and moments during his matches, including an instance where he attempted a Suicide Dive and ended up face-planting on the floor off the dive.

Ali also discussed his Guitar Casket Match against Elijah on the February 19 edition of TNA iMPACT! being a rough night at the office for him. Below are some highlights from Insight:

On His Guitar Casket Match Being One of His Roughest Nights in the Ring

“I would say single-handedly, one of the roughest nights I had. That thing that was constructed, I think it was 500 pounds. So when we think about casket matches, my hope is to use the damn thing at some point. But it was very weirdly shaped. Obviously, it’s shaped like a guitar. So I’m looking at it, and I’m like, there’s no safe way for me to actually get tossed into this, so there goes half of my ideas. When we got there, I was like we’re just gonna have to kill each other. So, yeah, I appreciate it. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it, it’s on YouTube. Watch it, please. I have scars all over my body.”

On Not Doing a Lot of 450 Splashes Anymore and Saving Them for Special Occasions

“Yeah. So the problem with that one too, this damn casket is so big. It’s no one’s fault, but when he [Elijah] had positioned the table, it was kind of off. So we move on to the spot, I looked, I go, oh sh*t. The way he’s laying on it, and the way I have to come off the ropes, because the casket is right there, his knees are where I need to land. I’m supposed to land on this torso. I go either I’m about to break my ribs or he’s about to break his knees. Good luck to you, Elijah. Little did I know at the last second he decided to put his knees up. So it’s my ribs. Everyone’s fine. I’m indestructible. But it all hurt.”

Mustafa Ali on His Scariest Moment Ever in a Match

“For some reason, it’s always tied to Elijah. Technically, it was part of a match. So back in December, we were in El Paso, an incident that is now named the Lasso in El Paso. It was The Rascalz, shout out to The Rascalz. Hope they’re doing well. We’re doing this thing where I’ve had enough with the match, I’m out of here, I’m taking the high road. The lights go off and on, and then Elijah appears behind on a horse, and the idea is that he attacks me, ties me up, he lassos me and he pulls me out of the arena on a horse. That’s not the scary part, right? Little context, so I’ll give you twofold. There’s a story behind the story. Earlier in the day, we’re rehearsing this stunt, and this is just when TNA announced its partnership with AMC, there’s AMC execs there and all this stuff like that. There’s a director named George who’s been with TNA for a long time, and we’re kind of walking through this rehearsal, and it is not happening. So the horse is getting scared, the lasso is becoming undone. Elijah’s not tying it right. The cameraman’s out of position. Everyone’s messing up, except for me. The director, George, says ‘Hey, I’m gonna pull the plug on this. We’re not doing the stunt. We got to come up with something.’ I’m like, ‘George, I’m telling you, we can pull this off.’ He goes, ‘You don’t understand. AMC is here, this is a bad impression. We’re not doing it.’ I don’t know what overcame me. I said, ‘George, let me do this stunt. I put my job on it. If it goes wrong, you can fire me on the spot.’ Without any hesitation, he goes, ‘Remember what you said.’ Sh*t, what did I get myself into?

“I went up to him [Elijah] and go, ‘Dude, we have to do it this way. There’s a guy that handles horses. Let him tie the damn lasso. No one’s looking at him. They’re looking at you.’ He’s 300 pounds of muscle. They’re looking at you dude, relax. So we had the handler do the lasso off-screen. You just don’t see it, and then it looks like Elijah did it. So the stunt goes according to plan. I don’t get fired, but I almost die. This is why. What you guys don’t see is when the horse pulls me away, you see me screaming and all that stuff when we go down this hallway, the thing about this hallway is there’s another horse. No one told me there were two horses. The handler, because of me, was on stage doing the tying. No one is manning the horse.

“You guys ever see when one horse runs what another horse does? First, it gets scared and starts kicking. So the hallway, it’s slim, and there’s a horse right there. So as I’m kind of going yay, I’ve done it, I turn around, there’s a horse, and the horse is kicking and screaming and jumping. I was like, All right, this is it. This is how stupid wrestlers are. My first thought is, and there’s not a cameraman to get it. So I just cover up. I say, thank you God for the good life. I just crawled up and the horse just missed me like, right here, I felt its tail almost, and I’m yelling, stop! So luckily, security came and stopped the horse. I’m a very pleasant person, despite what people hear. I got some students in the Chicago wrestling center over there. I’m very pleasant, I don’t get mad. I was on one that day, ‘Who put this horse over here?!’ There’s a whole other horse. So yeah, I’ve never had a scary experience as bad as that in the ring. It was definitely the horse. But I’m alive.”

On the Spot Where He Face Planted Off of a Suicide Dive During a Match With Cedric Alexander

“Once again, not my fault. I kind of felt bad about what happened. I’m at the stage in my career now, man, where I tried protecting and really going out of my way to make sure no negativity comes towards people. But now I’m at that stage in my life where, like, if something happened and you messed up or you f*cked up, it’s on you. What originally happened was I gave very clear instructions to the people that were accompanying me to the ring that night. TNA have, like, this big secret service entrance, and I have this political character. I gave them instructions I go, ‘When you guys advance on Cedric, stay here.’ I don’t want Cedric close to the ring because this dive, I’m sensing it’s this big show we’re at UBS Arena. We’re trying to sell this thing out. And I just had that vibe, and like no one had talked about AMC or the network.

“I had this intuition, I go, I think something big is going to happen for TNA, and I want to be one of the reasons why it happens. So I just had this mindset, they’re not giving me the ball, but I’m going to take it, type of thing. So very clear instructions, see where that tripod is. I go stand there. Well, I start running, and all of a sudden the guys that were supposed to stand by the tripod have advanced way closer. At the end of the day, could I have put on the brakes? Sure. So I go all the way I clip Cedric barely and, yeah, I just, I remember the ramp was like grated. So I just remember the, like, the greats just peeling like the skin, and I roll up, and you would think I’d stay down, but I had to get up and like, I’m indestructible. Everyone thought that was the death of me. But no, here I am standing once again. Chicago motherf*ckers are tough.”

Following his WWE exit, Mustafa Ali joined TNA Wrestling in 2024. He re-upped with the company earlier this year.