Mustafa Ali On Working Around Jeff Hardy’s Injury In Recent Bout: He Was In A Lot Of Pain But He Gritted His Teeth And Got Through It Because He Genuinely Cares About TNA

Mustafa Ali reflects on working with Jeff Hardy while Hardy was dealing with a neck injury.

Since Halloween last year, one half of the TNA Tag Team Champions, Jeff Hardy, has been dealing with bulging disks in his neck, causing much discomfort. Despite this, Hardy isn’t considering surgery, despite it being an option. In a recent match with Mustafa Ali on TNA iMPACT!, Ali would take care of Hardy despite the injury.

While speaking to Rewind, Recap, Relive in a new interview, Mustafa Ali spoke about the bout with Hardy, noting that the TNA World Tag Team Champion was in a lot of pain, but gritted his teeth and got through the bout.

“Jeff’s been dealing with some injuries that he disclosed recently on, Chris Van Vliet’s show. There’s that added pressure of taking care of the guy, but it’s the main event, too. You know what I mean? When you say Jeff Hardy, you’re expecting something. I’d like to say when you say Mustafa Ali, you’re also expecting something, and to fall short of that would disappoint not only the fans, but I think executives that are watching the match. So, yeah, man, credit to Jeff for getting the ring and duking it out. He was in a lot of pain, man, but he kind of gritted his teeth and got through it because he genuinely cares about TNA. He cares about the fans. I mean, he probably wanted to get in the ring and see what he can do with, his old boy Mustafa Ali. But, uh, yeah, a lot of pressure kind of- I’ve kind of passed that moment where I go, oh crap, I’m in the ring with Jeff. Like, that’s a very cool thing. That’s not, you know, don’t get me wrong. I was a lifelong fan of all these guys. Like, you know, like I, you know, I grew up watching this thing. So even when I was in WWE and I’d be in the ring with like Rey Mysterio or AJ (Styles), I’d be like, I’m kind of at that point now where it’s like, man, they’re just, you know, it’s all, it’s cool. Let’s, let’s, let’s get to work, you know? So that pressure wasn’t there. Like, I’m in the ring with the childhood hero. It’s more like, ‘all right, we got work to do,’ and I gotta make sure this guy doesn’t get any more hurt, but we’re still going to have a main event worthy match. So, I didn’t win that one, but I should have.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, Ali spoke about betting his job on a risky spot during his feud with Elijah. You can read more about that here.

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