Mustafa Ali retains TNA International Championship as former WWE star makes debut at Slammiversary

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Mustafa Ali went into Total Nonstop Action Wrestling’s (TNA) Slammiversary event without knowing who will answer the call for his open challenge for the International Championship.

Ali told his followers on social media that TNA’s director of operations, Daria Rae, would make the announcement on the Slammiversary pre-show. Ali decided he wasn’t going to wait around anymore and came to the ring during the pre-show.

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Mustafa Ali entering the arena at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida

As Rae was about to share the news with Ali, TNA director of authority Santino Marella interrupted her. Marella and Rae both said they had opponents for Ali, making the open challenge a triple-threat match instead of a one-on-one affair.

Ali’s first opponent was revealed to be Rich Swann. Then, Uhaa Nation made his debut for TNA. Nation was known as Apollo Crews when he was in WWE. Nation was an intercontinental champion and U.S. champion while with WWE. Nation dumped Ali out of the ring and turned his focus to Swann to start the match.

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Mustafa Ali making his entrance during NXT at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Ali had to really dig in and try to stave off both competitors’ strength and agility. But he got help from Order 4 members Tasha Steelz and Special Agent Zero. The two distracted Nation as he was trying to put the finishing touches on Swann.

Zero took out Nation and it allowed Ali to take advantage of the one-on-one matchup inside the ring. Ali avoided Swann and rolled him up with a backslide pin and a bridge. The referee counted to three and it was Ali’s night to celebrate.

Ali’s International Championship reign is his first since entering the company in 2024. He came in and won the X Division Championship and was named the X Division Star of the Year in his first year there.

Uhaa Nation making his entrance during Monday Night RAW at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio

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Since then, Ali has put the Order 4 alongside him and he hasn’t been on the losing end of his matches much. He won the TNA International Championship against Trey Miguel at Rebellion in Cleveland in April and hasn’t looked back from there.

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