Mustafa Ali Reveals Why He Abandoned '054' Finisher

By Ross W Berman IV

Mustafa Ali has been re-establishing himself on WWE programming, and in doing so, has switched up some of his signature offense.

Ali shared footage of a recent "WWE Main Event" match against T-Bar and in the clip, Ali outmaneuvers T-Bar and picks up the win with a 450 Splash. One of Ali's fans on Twitter pointed out that the 450 Splash was of the traditional variety, as opposed to Ali's signature inverted 450 Splash, known as "the 054."

"Clean af. Just a question, you ditched the 054?" the fan asked. "Yeah," Ali responded, "risk isn't worth the reward."

What "risks" Ali was referring to wasn't immediately clear, though any aerial maneuver comes with sizable risks. It was also not clear if Ali was referring to risks to his own safety, or the safety of his opponent, or both.

Ali suffered a PCL tear at the end of 2020, but it is not clear if the 054 Splash was involved in the injury. Ali reportedly worked through that injury from December until his then-faction Retribution's split around WrestleMania 37. Ali went on to request his release in October of 2021, which led to a lengthy period on the shelf for the retired police officer.

Ali returned to WWE TV in April, beating The Miz in a match on "WWE Raw." Ali recently came up short in a WWE United States Title match against Theory, in Ali's hometown of Chicago, IL. Following the match Ali took to Twitter to seemingly vent his frustrations with WWE creative, "I don't even know man."

The win over T-Bar on "WWE Main Event" seems to be something of a restart for Ali's momentum, as it was his first match since losing to Theory at WWE Hell In A Cell.

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