10 Wrestlers Who Got PISSED When Their Moves Were Stolen

6. Mustafa Ali's Lumbar Kick

Mustafa Ali
WWE

As the man himself said, 'Mr. 450' really had to piss Mustafa Ali off big time for him to launch into such a furious extended tirade. There's a backstory here, and it's messy, and it appears to date back even further.

Mustafa Ali and the man he infamously worked on 205 Live - the messy part being an injury that was either suffered by John Yurnet or exacerbated, leading to a muddled controversy over damages - were apparently close on the Chicago indie circuit on which they came up.

Something obviously changed; Ali raged against the man who last worked under the name 'Mecha Wolf' for stealing a move of his. It wasn't made explicit, but one can infer what it was from the snarky description ("lying lumbar kick"). What's strange here is a weird conflation made by the otherwise sound and nice RETRIBUTION leader. He alluded to awful behaviour of which Mecha Wolf was accused - backstabbing, physical abuse - but seemed to care just as much about some move he retired years and years ago before hitting the big time.

"He did horrible things, guys. Unthinkable things. I mean, that rotation was pathetic!"

A rare case of a nice bloke lowering himself to someone's level.

Sympathy factor: Priorities weren't great, but there's a clear face here.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!