Mustafa Ali Says He & Buddy Matthews Were Not Allowed To Use Weapons In No DQ Match On 205 Live Because WWE Extreme Rules PLE Was Coming Up

A marquee moment from Ali’s 205 Live run.

Mustafa Ali’s run with WWE kick-started with him participating in the Cruiserweight Classic tournament. That parlayed into him being a part of the now-defunct 205 Live brand.

During Ali’s time on that brand, he developed a rivalry with current AEW talent Buddy Matthews, f.k.a. Buddy Murphy. Ali participated in a virtual signing for K & S WrestleFest and looked back on the No DQ match that he and Matthews had in the summer of 2018.

Ali stated that they were not allowed to use weapons in the match because WWE’s Extreme Rules Premium Live Event was coming up the following week. They were able to use ring steps after Ali sarcastically suggested it out of frustration. He added that Xavier Woods helped him and Matthews with ideas to work around their restriction. Ali feels that the match with Matthews is his most respected bout.

“If you’re talking about me and Buddy (Matthews), you might be referring to the No DQ match that happened a year after. That’s probably my most talked-about 205 Live match. It was a No DQ match. It was the week before Extreme Rules, so we weren’t allowed to use any weapons which is kind of frustrating as a talent. So very jokingly, out of frustration, I said, ‘Well, can we use the f’ing stairs?’ And they go, ‘Yeah.’ So we just did a match basically entirely comprised of using the stairs. Xavier Woods was actually helping us out a lot too that day. Just kind of like, ‘Yeah, you guys can tear it up using just the stairs…’ They did like the top 10 205 Live matches of all time. So it’s ranked at number one. It’s probably my most well-respected match that I had. It was with Buddy, yeah.”

Ali made his return to in-ring action for WWE at NXT vs. TNA Showdown. He unsuccessfully challenged Ethan Page for the NXT North American Championship.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit K & S WrestleFest with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.