Mustafa Ali Says He’s Now Taking Trent Seven Seriously Ahead of TNA Against All Odds

In an interview with WGN Radio 720 (via Fightful), Mustafa Ali spoke about his upcoming X Division title match with Trent Seven at TNA Against All Odds this weekend. Ali has been champion since February.

He said: “I’ll be honest with you, I did not take Mr. Seven very seriously. This match is supposed to be nothing more than an exhibition match, but a tag team match was set up on the latest episode of TNA iMPACT! in which I saw something in Mr. Seven’s eyes that I don’t think we’ve seen since his NXT UK days, and I’ll be perfectly honest with him, I did not see him as a threat,” said Ali. “You know, some might say I was looking past him. Although that would be difficult to look past Mr. Seven because he’s a very, very large man. I have no doubt that I will retain my championship. He is stepping into enemy territory. He is coming to my beloved hometown of Chicago, and I know it’s in Cicero, smartasses. I know. It’s Chicago, just let it go. But my people will be there and they’ll be out to support me. So I have no idea. What Mr. Seven’s game plan is, I have no idea how he even plans to survive the night going into the ring was one of the best in the world, let alone in his hometown. So I wish Mr. Seven luck because he’s going to need it. I will say that I’m taking him a little bit more seriously now after I saw that look in his eyes on TNA iMPACT! this past week, but nothing will change.“