Mustafa Ali wins X-Division title at TNA No Surrender

In his first night in the company, Mustafa Ali is leaving a champion after winning the X-Division title at TNA No Surrender in New Orleans.

Ali defeated Chris Sabin in the night’s main event — the first time an X-Division match has main evented one of their specials since 2005’s Unbreakable.

The end to the competitive match came when Ali avoided an avalanche Cradle Shock attempt, hitting a sunset bomb and a 450 splash to pick up the win.

This is Ali’s first singles title in a major promotion while the loss ends Sabin’s 10th run with the championship that started at last September’s Impact 1000 and saw three successful title defenses.

Ali will be sticking around TNA at least through late-March as part of five additional dates that includes March’s Sacrifice streaming special and several TV tapings.

He will take on Kevin Knight during Saturday’s TV taping in New Orleans,

Since his non-compete ended following his WWE release, the 37-year-old Ali has been busy, competing both domestically and abroad, making appearances for GCW, Defy, RevPro, PROGRESS and others. He will make his NJPW debut in April in a match against Hiroshi Takahashi.

Ali’s win was one of two on the night as MK Ultra regained the Knockouts Tag Team titles from Decay while all the other champions that defended retained.