"Classy Ali" is Ali Al Majid's alter ego. The self-proclaimed 'bad guy' character loves being heckled by the crowd.
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00:00The best thing about being the bad guy is being a champion.
00:06I feel like being a bad guy helped me become a champion.
00:09I resonated well with the crowd.
00:10I like getting underneath their skin.
00:12I like to make them gloomy.
00:14When you have little kids in the crowd and they put out their hands, I love not shaking
00:18it.
00:19And then when I'm getting beaten up, I like to see their reaction, how happy and excited
00:21they are that this bad guy is being beaten up.
00:23So I think being a bad guy is just natural for me.
00:27My name is Ali Al-Majid, also known as Classy Ali, and I'm a professional wrestler.
00:43Pro wrestling for me is an art.
00:45It's a form of entertainment that can never be duplicated, can never be imitated.
00:50It's got its own world.
00:51It's a form of entertainment that takes a lot of athleticism.
00:56I've been a wrestler since 2017.
00:58I saw an announcement saying that they were opening an academy right here in Qatar.
01:01I joined the academy, and it took two full years of rigorous training.
01:10I founded Qatar Pro Wrestling to help wrestling fans reach their dream.
01:16Some of them want to be professional wrestlers.
01:19Some of them want to be a referee, ring announcer, manager, or even a commentator.
01:25So Qatar Pro Wrestling is helping all those people to reach their dream.
01:34During our training, we work on cardio, we work on ring positioning, we work on our character.
01:39Then we go into technical training, which is basically a lot of reversals and how to
01:43reverse your opponent.
01:44After that, we take bumps, which is where we fall on our backs, fall on our chests,
01:48fall on our faces.
01:49We train on power moves.
01:51We train on high flying moves.
01:52We train on submissions.
01:59As a coach, I teach the new guys how to become an actual professional wrestler and be on
02:03the big stage.
02:04I always teach my students how to land safely on their backs, how to do chain wrestling
02:10moves, how to safely wrestle your opponent so they won't end up in the hospital.
02:15So it's safety, it's entertainment, and it's professionalism.
02:22Wrestling is a dangerous sport.
02:24People might say it's fake, it's scripted, but if someone doesn't catch you when you're
02:28jumping off that top rope, you can land very awkwardly and break something.
02:34There's two types of characters in wrestling.
02:35There's the good guys and the bad guys.
02:37My character is a very classy character, very egotistical, sees himself above everyone.
02:42A villain whose main job is to find the most underhanded way to cheat to win.
02:48He'll find all the little tricks, the dirty tricks, when the ref is not looking, poke
02:51the eye, go for a low blow, use the ropes.
02:57We have two different shows that we run.
02:59One is an academy show, which brings academy talent.
03:01Then we have the big show, which is done every year.
03:04This is the show where big international stars, ex-WWE stars, Mexican stars all show up over
03:09a two-night event.
03:12The type of people that come to watch us wrestle has literally been from all over the world.
03:17We have Qatari families, we've got men, we've got women, we've got Indians, Pakistanis,
03:22and a bunch of kids from a school show up all together.
03:27I enjoy watching children have fun in these shows.
03:30There are many kids who enjoy and adore professional wrestling.
03:34The biggest reactions we always have is from children, because their mind is blown.
03:39I could never get enough of this reaction.
03:41I would always try to develop more stuff that we can do on the show, specifically to give
03:46these kids something that they can enjoy.
03:49When I'm performing in front of a crowd, initially I used to feel very nervous, but over time
03:54that doesn't exist anymore.
03:55I love being a bad guy.
03:56I feel that it resonates well with the crowd.
04:00It's very easy to incorporate a bad guy.
04:01All you have to do is just go there, talk trash about the crowd, and that's it.
04:05You get all the heat.
04:11Ikhlas Ali, he's a unique individual.
04:13He's Qatari, but he's going bowing from Qatari fans.
04:17He has this courage, and this is one of the reasons why people get involved in his character
04:22on the ring.
04:23Bowing, chin, they like his character.
04:26They like how he acts on the ring.
04:29So he's unique in our region.
04:36Being a Qatari pro wrestler, initially my family was completely against it.
04:40They didn't want me getting hurt, and they didn't want me making a fool out of myself.
04:44But I invited them to the first show, and they have not missed a single show since then.
04:48Qataris as a whole saw pro wrestling as a joke.
04:50When they saw me, they were like, what is this guy doing?
04:52But now I feel wherever I go, if people recognize me, they're like, oh, there's Ikhlas Ali.
04:56There's that wrestler.
04:58So I feel like I've gained their respect over time.
05:00I love professional wrestling because it's given me a big name for myself.
05:04It's given me a big career.
05:05Pro wrestling is just a huge part of my life.
05:07I feel like if it wasn't there in my life, I don't know what I would be doing.
05:11My hope for the future of pro wrestling in Qatar is to see it grow.
05:15We've laid the foundation, and I hope future generations get inspired by us
05:19and make this ring into a much bigger thing than it currently is.
05:27Wrestling in Qatar has really grown over the years.
05:30We've managed pretty well to get it over with the local audience.
05:34We're doing pretty decent work with characters, storylines, and actual wrestling.
05:39So I think we're at that stage.
05:41If we work a bit more, it's going to grow well.
05:47If anyone wants to become a professional wrestler and sees themselves in the bright light,
05:51I say go for it.
05:52If you fight for your dreams, they will fight for you.