Across his 17-year in-ring profession, Cedric Alexander has crossed paths with wrestlers from all around the world. Only a handful have created true magic with him, nonetheless.
While speaking with “Casual Conversations with The Classic,” Alexander pinpointed those names as fellow TNA talents Mustafa Ali and Leon Slater in addition to AEW’s Buddy Matthews. Ali is taken into account his ultimate squared circle counterpart.
“To me, [reuniting with Ali in TNA] was a dream come true because there was a degree where him or I never thought we were together again,” Alexander said. “There was a degree where it’s like we pull the trigger or we do not. It’s either now or never. We got to get it out. And I used to be like, man, I am unable to pass this up. Being within the ring with Ali is all the time a cakewalk. He’s my wrestling soul mate. I’ll go ahead and say that. There is a handful of fellows in wrestling that I’ll placed on that tier of like you place me on a card with them, I will steal the show each time. On that list could be Buddy Matthews, Mustafa Ali, and Leon Slater.”
Alexander and Ali first clashed under the WWE banner as a component of the “205 Live” brand, which primarily showcased cruiserweights, in 2017. Across the following six years, they’d share the ring on a dozen more occasions, one in every of which saw them vie for the vacant Cruiserweight Championship on the WWE WrestleMania 34 pre-show. Following their respective WWE departures in 2023 and 2025, Ali and Alexander later rekindled their in-ring chemistry on the 2025 TNA Slammiversary event.
Alexander Explains His & Ali’s Shared Mentalities
In keeping with Alexander, his reference to Ali can partially be attributed to their shared mentalities about their “205 Live” performances.
“It was the, ‘Hey, if nobody’s going to take this thing and run with it, let’s do it,'” Alexander said. “There was that point when 205 form of had a dip with some troubles backstage and whatnot. Ali and I, without really making a proper announcement, just form of said, ‘Hey, we will go ahead and make them realize that [cruiserweights] ain’t nothing to sleep on.’
“I remember there was that match that we had on 205 Live. It was right after the Royal Rumble. I feel that was the turning point in 205 where we form of took the bull by the horns and said, hey, we got to make this work; it’s do or die. If we got to die making this work, we’ll do it.”
Alexander and Ali’s first “205 Live” encounter took place within the midst of a five-way match to find out the primary contender to the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in February 2017. Jack Gallagher emerged victorious on that occasion. The next yr, Alexander and Ali finally met one-on-one just days ahead of the 2018 Royal Rumble premium live event.
In the current day, Alexander resides because the TNA X-Division Champion, while concurrently serving as a member of The System. Ali leads his own faction — Order 4 — while also maintaining his status as TNA’s International Champion. Last month, they shared the ring over again, this time on the identical side, for the Men’s Champions Challenge tag match on “Thursday Night Impact.”
If you happen to use any of the quotes in this text, please credit “Casual Conversations with The Classic” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.