Mustafa Ali says he made the mistake of not taking Trent Seven very seriously until they were in a tag team match on the June 6 episode of TNA iMPACT!
Mustafa Ali is scheduled to defend his TNA Wrestling X-Division Title against Trent Seven at TNA Against All Odds 2024.
While speaking with Fightful's Iridian Fierro for WGN Radio 720 to promote the match, Ali admits that he wasn't taking Trent very seriously until Trent picked up a victory in a tag team match which saw him and "Speedball" Mike Bailey defeat Ali and Campaign Singh.
However, now that Ali is taking him seriously, he believes that there's nothing that's going to stop him from retaining his championship, especially in his home city of Chicago.
"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."
Fans can check out the full card for TNA Against All Odds here.
Fightful will have coverage of the event on Friday, June 14.
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