How I Got Into This Game

Who is The Beast From The Middle East – Let me give you a snapshot of my journey into this amazing industry that I have relished for over 20 years. The year is 2000 and I’m about 29 years old, minding my own business, going to SAIT the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology taking Business Administration with a major in Marketing of all things, and working out at BJ’s Gym and for those of you who are not from Calgary, BJ’s gym was owned by Teddy Hart’s dad, BJ, and Ted had a ring set up on the second floor of the gym.

Now what I want you to keep in mind is I started boxing at about age 9 and by age 15 I had about 33 Amateur Boxing Matches, and some of the local wrestlers use to come use our ring to bump in after we finished our class, and much to my shock and dissatisfaction, I saw these wrestlers scripting and going over their matches and I was first horrified and second I was now exposed to the business at such a young age and realizing that this business was a work, like many fans when they realized this business was a work, lost interest in it.

First of all let me say May GOD Forgive me if I’m mistaken in anything I say to you, because I am old and my memory is not what it used to be, having said that, let’s fast forward almost 15 years ahead where I’m almost 30 years old and playing basketball in the parking lot of BJ’s gym, and BJ’s son, a young maybe 20 year old Teddy Hart approaches me on the basketball court of his dads gym, and says to me, hey Ali, I’ve seen you around the gym and I think you have a good look, have you ever done any wrestling in school, to which I said no, he then goes on to ask me if I watch pro wrestling on TV, to which I again reply no, so he then says to me how about if I let you train for 2 weeks for free to see if you like it or not, to which I said “Hell Yeah!”

Now I didn’t really know who these guys were at the time but TJ Wilson aka Tyson Kidd, Harry Smith, Natalya Neidhart & Jack Evans & Teddy Hart where there training and I had no idea I was amongst 3^rd Generation Canadian Wrestling Royalty! well to make a long story short, I get trained & wrestle about 15 matches going from Indian reserve to reserve, until I finally decide to send my I think 15^th match to Kevin Kelly who was WWE Head of Talent Relations at the time and in less than a year of being in the business, I get a call from Kevin, inviting me to debut a dark match on Raw in my home town of Calgary Alberta in front of my friends and family on March 28, 2001 in Calgary & a second shoot in Edmonton the following night for Tuesday Night Heat! Well I was in SHOCK!

Let me paint a picture for you, it’s now May 28, 2001 and I’m backstage at Raw, and Kevin Kelly tells me I will find out who I’m wrestling in the ring, so guess what no pre planning or even knowing who I’m working. Let me start by saying I don’t remember anything except walking to the ring and nothing in between, then getting off the mat after I lose the match, and that’s when almost 15 thousand fans started chanting Ali, Ali, Ali!

Wow! What an experience! So I get through the first tryout, so I head up to Edmonton for Tuesday Night Heat and to my surprise, my 10 buddy’s who were also trying out had all their names on the match board except mine, so I immediately walked up to Kevin Kelly, shake his hand and tell him that this was the highlight of my life, even if I never wrestle again, then continue to say to him, I notices my name is not on the match board and if I was not needed that night I was heading back to Calgary, Kevin then told me that the reason I was not wrestling was because Vince had seen enough and I was to wait until the show started and go see Vince in his office, well I am now freaking out, so I rush home and tell my wife, you are not going to believe, Vince wants to sign me!

So, I get my college papers, school history and pilots license and send it off to the US Immigration to apply for my green card, and as I live and breathe, get this, while my paperwork was at the US Immigration Office, two planes flew into the World Trade Centers, and I was DENIED ENTRY!.

In hindsight and interesting enough, I was born in Edmonton Alberta, but I think I received my Denied Entry Notice the same week my first of 5 children was born, and today I have 5 healthy children and rather than becoming a big star once myself, I have the honor of watching our students become big stars time and time again, so if you ask me now would I trade my life today for a life in the WWE without my students and children I would tell you “Not a Chance!”