Still having a wrestling hangover from the WWE Live in Manila 2019?
Before the rumbling Filipino crowd welcomed the WWE Superstars at the Araneta Coliseum, we got a chance to chat with some of them in a press conference held a few hours prior to the big event, and WWE Superstars Kevin Owens and Mustafa Ali answered some of the curious questions the media had in store for them.
Canadian pro-wrestler Kevin Owens or KO is currently on a feud with WWE authority Shane McMahon after the latter “fired” him from the WWE storyline. This was over McMahon’s recent loss against Chad Gable, wherein Owens was a special guest referee. In a recent confrontation, KO vented out on the ring how McMahon has ruined SmackDown by making it his own playground, thus having a strong case against the man in charge. Just before the WWE Live performance here in Manila, McMahon stated that he is allowing the Superstar to be able to participate in WWE Live matches. Meanwhile, there are speculations that KO will be returning to the NXT brand but the star would not confirm it yet.
Mustafa Ali first competed in the independent scene of wrestling while working as a police officer in Chicago. Donning a light-up mask, it is the wrestler’s mission to “embody the light in a world of darkness,” sparking an inspirational outcry: “be the light in the dark,” among fans of the WWE. He is currently a rising star of the ring and is making his way to earn bigger titles for his WWE career.
To know more about the two Superstars, here are some of the highlights of the press conference that was held at the Marco Polo Hotel in Ortigas, Manila yesterday.
To Ali, some are saying you are this year’s breakout star, what can you say about this?
Ali: I feel like I was on course but fate took a different turn. This year has been a little bit of a rocky road for me. From a professional standpoint, you know I came smacked on my roster earlier this year with a lot of steam and I feel like a lot had been expected from me but unfortunately I had a pretty serious injury that took me out of that title picture and I’ve been trying to kind of find my way since then. I tell everybody it wasn’t an accident, it was just fate. I feel like Kofi Kingston and what he was able to accomplish was meant to be. You can’t write a better story than Kofimania so I’m very very happy and I’m proud of him, but at a professional standpoint I’m watching something unfold that I know I’m capable of doing. The year is not over, I think I’ll find my way. You know, it wasn’t an accident, it was fate.
To Kevin Owens, as someone who breaks the stereotype on WWE physique, what can you say to people who want to follow the path?
Kevin: Well, it’s probably a lot easier if you’re ripped and jacked. I went a different way, obviously, and it’s been very rewarding to be me. I don’t know how many people have tried to change me throughout my career, and I don’t know if it’s hard-and it’s all good advice- I don’t know if it’s a matter of me being hard-headed or what, I just always thought I’m gonna do it my way. To a certain degree I did, I mean not to a certain degree… I really did. I just decided to do it [and] not let anybody tell me I couldn’t do it, so I guess that would be the one advice I have for somebody who doesn’t fit the mold as we say. Hey, but if you’re young just work out a lot.
Some say that we are in the Golden Age of Wrestling, what can you say about this and what is the difference between this era of wrestling from before?
Kevin: If you’re talking about strictly from a fan’s standpoint, I remember growing up wishing that there was somewhere I could watch wrestling 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and now that’s possible. If I was just a fan and I wasn’t doing this for a living, if I was still 15 years old and trying to soak up as much of this as I can, I would be so… I mean, I am thrilled that all that wrestling is just available and with the way technology works now, there’s literally wrestling from all over the world and any day you can watch anything at this point and I think that as a fan, that’s pretty incredible. For the WWE network, for a WWE fan, it’s literally a dream come true. It would’ve been the answer to my dream when I was younger, because it’s all content. It’s not even just WWE, there’s all kinds of stuff and it’s just so incredible. Back then I wouldn’t have access to stuff I didn’t even know exist, and I think as a fan this is definitely the best time ever to be a fan of the WWE.
Ali: Then from the performer’s standpoint, this is also the most competitive time. It’s not just WWE, [there are] competitions from all over the world. You have this access to fans now so you’re forever trying to stay ahead of the curb but you are aware of what’s going out there and what’s going on. And for me, as a performance up and coming, I’m trying to be able to distinguish myself, separate myself, and be identifiable. It’s only gonna get more difficult when there’s more access to it. But from a fan’s standpoint, yes, it’s rock and roll. It’s as much wrestling as you want.
Do you have any memorable encounters with the fans?
Kevin: There are good ones constantly, where we have people tell us how much what we do means to them for whatever reasons, and sometimes [these are] reasons that we’re not even conscious of. Sometimes we’ll be told that we did something on a show and then it meant the world to this person and to us, it’s just something that we don’t even think about later, so that’s always great to hear. Or we’ll have fans give us things that mean the world to them, and they put their time in it, and that’s always cool too and each time I’m given anything by a fan, I put it in my bag and it travels with me wherever I go. Because [these people] took the time to put a little bit of themselves in it.
There are bad encounters where, the one I remember was in Atlanta awhile ago, I have my son with me at the show, and this guy wants a picture or something but I have my son with me and it’s very late and it’s raining. I don’t have the time to stop because I have my son, so I said “no.” And then he started spouting off insults and getting mad at me and he had his kid with him too. So he’s insulting [me] in front of his kid, because I’m just protecting my kid. So stuff like that happen more often than we wish but it’s important that we have to handle it as professional as we can so I just told him “I hope you’re proud of yourself because your son is seeing you act this way now. Have a good day.”
I would say this to some fans because I’ve read in the past people that are very critical of how some wrestlers act with fans at airports and stuff like that. Like sometimes, some wrestlers will just ignore the people that are in the airport. Thing is, you don’t know what the encounters that have happened before for these people have been. There’s a reason why. Because everybody, and I’d like to say 99% of the people we have in our locker room appreciates the fans, appreciates everybody’s energy and everything… like every cent that’s spent on seeing us perform and everything. It’s never because we don’t care, but there’s always a reason why somebody might not be as friendly to fans outside the arena as people wish they were. So I’d say be careful of what you judge and what you say about these people.
Ali: To go with what Kevin said, on both aspects of it I’ve had incredible fan experiences. One example is, when I perform, when I come to the ring I wear a mask that lights up and to me it was more about the idea of being the light. I didn’t realize that a fan was so enthusiastic that I was wearing a mask because she suffers from some form of respiratory disease where she has to wear what’s called a Vogmask that helps you breathe. So she says “it’s so cool that you’re normalizing it because I had to walk around in public wearing this mask and people think that I’m weird like, why I had this mask on,” and the first thing I thought about was that she was complimenting my mask so much so let me send it to her so I sent her a light-up mask.
So she thinks it’s cool now for her to wear the mask, some people come up to her and ask questions about it so like Kevin said, sometimes we do things we don’t even realize. My intention was never “hey, for anyone that wears a Vogmask,” it wasn’t that. It was something for me and something from a character standpoint but she was able to relate to that and now she’s very proud of the mask she wears and that’s cool.
And like Kevin said I’ve had some real weird experiences. I’m always the guy that if you ask nicely and if I’m accessible to you I’ll sign or whatever. I was in this cultural fair and my son was maybe six or seven months and I’m giving him a bottle and someone had approached me and asked if I could take a picture with him, and my son was agitatedly screaming and I’m trying to give him his bottle and I looked at [the guy] and I said “could you give me like a minute?” and the guy just takes out his phone and starts taking pictures as I’m trying to console my child. Luckily I had a really good friend that was right there that put an end to it for me, but I was just processing it in my mind. We do appreciate our fans but we hope they appreciate that we’re human beings too.
Are you active on social media? Do you take time to read comments or even bashing?
Ali: I think social media is important. To me, as far as getting a message out, because like I said, a lot of people relate to us or find some sort of inspiration from us and social media is the only way for them to express that so I do try to stay engaged with that aspect. We also have families so the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit with my phone reading comments but I do try to engage with [what they want to share], if it’s positivity I want to promote that positivity. On the flip side, there are some people that like to make racial remarks and whatnot towards me specifically. But again, it’s always an opportunity to [keep in mind that] hate doesn’t defeat hate. So I always try to respond as timely as possible, to also educate that person about why their misconception is completely false, and why a lot of people resonate with that. So it just depends on how you use it and what your message is and for me, it’s just about creating an environment of positivity and what encourages it.
Kevin: I have Twitter, and I don’t use it as much as I used to. It’s mostly not good. That’s why for me, I get some great mention result, but I also get people… I don’t know what to say… It’s not anywhere as fun as it used to be. Let’s put it that way.
NXT is now moved to Wednesday nights, do you think it could be on the same level as Raw and Smackdown?
Kevin: I have no doubt that NXT will eclipse Raw and Smackdown through time. Every talent, passion, and hardwork… Not that we don’t work hard in Raw and Smackdown, but everybody on NXT feels like they have something to prove, because it’s NXT, so I think it makes for a very interesting dynamic right now. And in a way that’s going to drive people on Raw and Smackdown even hungrier so I think it’s good for everything in WWE.
Ali: I tell everybody passion is purpose and passion is power, and NXT’s got an opportunity to ignite the world and they’re gonna do it. You know when we were travelling I had a chance to watch some of the clips of their first episode and that speaks for itself.
The two WWE Superstars just took part in this year’s biggest wrestling event in Manila. Kevin Owens won over Andrade in the opening match, while Ali fought against WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura but came up short.
Other winners hailed at the event were: Roman Reigns who defeated Sami Zayn; Chad Gable who won over EC3 after the latter snatched the 24/7 title from R-Truth; Carmella who defeated Mandy Rose; SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley retaining her title over Charlotte Flair in a Street Fight; SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival successfully defending their title over The New Day; and current WWE Champion Kofi Kingston winning over Daniel Bryan.
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