There’s an old saying among professional wrestlers, widely credited to the late and legendary grappler Chief Jay Strongbow: “In this business, you can make friends or you can make money.”

Another conundrum that pro wrestlers often face: In this business, you can be creatively fulfilled … or you can make money.

Adeel Alam, the 37-year-old Muslim wrestler best known in the ring as Mustafa Ali, lived that dilemma throughout his run in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 2016 to 2023. The high-flying, technically sound performer had a few moments of greatness in the world’s biggest wrestling promotion, but more often than not he was either being used sparingly, not being used up to his potential, or being used in ways that clearly didn’t work for him. But at the same time, the married father of three was making good money in WWE — more than he’d make with any other wrestling promotion.

There were highs and lows. Ali was featured in a WWE Cruiserweight Championship match at WrestleMania in 2017. He was in a WWE Championship match at Fastlane in 2019. He got a lot of title shots, but never won those matches. He also had inexplicably long stretches of disappearing from TV. He was also saddled with being cast as the leader of a terrible (and not in a good way) faction called Retribution that was at least short-lived. He feuded with and then teamed up with Mansoor, WWE’s first-ever Saudi Arabian wrestler, who the company also seemed unsure of how to use effectively as a TV character.

At various points during his WWE run, Ali privately and publicly asked to be released. WWE refused to let him out of his contract, even if they weren’t really doing much with him creatively. Ali pitched ideas to make his character more interesting; WWE made changes to his character that didn’t go well. In September 2023, Ali was released by WWE, and shortly thereafter began working with major and minor promotions around the world, from the U.S. to Japan.

On February 23, at Total Nonstop Action’s No Surrender show, Ali claimed his first championship in a major promotion when he won TNA’s X-Division title. On a March 9, he successfully defended the belt in a rematch with Chris Sabin, who he’d defeated for the title.

Given the economic realities of the mega-giant promotion WWE and the significantly smaller TNA, odds are Mustafa Ali is not making as much money as he did before. But there’s a better chance that he’s creatively fulfilled. And he’s been undeniably, immediately more successful.

That’s just how the business goes sometimes.