WWE‘s Mustafa Ali knows a thing about being underrated.

After a fairly successful initial run with the promotion and its various brands that saw the “Prince” secure big wins over the likes of Tony Neese, Drew Gulak, The Miz, and Darby Allen via EVOLVE 116, Ali found himself the leader of Retribution and eventually off the card entirely, with the Illinois native publically requesting his release as a result.

Though things have turned around for Ali since, as, after a six-month absence from October of 2021 to April of 2022, he came back to RAW in a big way in a feud with The Miz and then Theory, it's anyone's guess as to how long he remains in Mr. McMahon's regular rotation, or if he will soon fall back to being a fixture of Main Event and house shows.

So, if Ali explicitly points out another wrestler that he feels is underrated, his opinion should probably be held in pretty high regard, especially if the performer in question is someone he's shared the ring with before on multiple occasions.

Pac, you may be a “Bastard,” but you are an underrated one in the eyes of your peers.

Even outside of the WWE, PAC remains an underrated performer.

When he called the WWE his home promotion, PAC, then known as Adrian Neville, was not what you would call a main event superstar… unless, of course, you're talking about Main Event the digital show, which he was a fixture of when creative had nothing for him on RAW or SmackDown. Though he has won more belts than Mustafa Ali, securing the NXT Tag Team title twice, first with Oliver Grey and then with wrestler-turned-commentator Corey Graves, the NXT Championship once, and the WWE Cruiserweight title twice with the shortened name of Neville, his final months in the promotion were marred with matches against Akira Tozawa and Enzo Amore, which bogged down what should have been a respectable run with the eventually retired Cruiserweight Title.

Fun fact: Did you know that seven of the 20 wrestlers who have held the Cruiserweight Championship now wrestle for either AEW, NJPW, Impact, or MLW? Very interesting indeed.

No, for PAC to recapture his mystique and become the sort of impact performer fans of AEW know all too well, he needed to take his talents to Japan at Dragon's Gate, a promotion that isn't exactly popular in America, where he was afforded an opportunity to go toe-to-toe again some of the best performers the country had to offer both as a singles competitor and with his R.E.D. faction members Ben-K, Big R Shimizu, and Yasushi Kanda. PAC parlayed this success into a spot in AEW, where he notably secured a win over Kenny Omega at All Out 2019 by referee's decision and then went on to feud with the likes of Adam Page, Jon Moxley, and Orange Cassidy, before forming a unit called Death Triangle with the Lucha Brothers Rey Fenix and then-Pentagon Jr., after feeling like the promotion wasn't giving the performer the proper respect.

‘Didn't give the performers the proper respect,' huh? Goodness, that sure sounds a lot like being underrated.

While PAC has turned in a number of signature bouts in the promotion, including his 30 Minute Iron Man match versus Kenny Omega, Orange Cassidy's first “real” match in the promotion, and a three-way AEW World Title bout against two of his biggest rivals, Kenny Omega and Orange Cassidy, PAC has largely been relegated to trios work in an extended program versus the House of Black, which wouldn't be a bad thing if it wasn't for the fact that the promotion has yet to christen a three-man title.

Fortunately, with his spot in the AEW All-Atlantic Championship officially secured for Forbidden Door, PAC has an opportunity to add another signature moment to his professional resume and a belt to his wardrobe, which would mark his first time as a title holder within Tony Khan's promotion. Though the competition will surely be tough, as Miro, Malakai Black, and even Clark Connors are no joke in the ring, putting the strap around an AEW original would be an incredibly full-circle booking decision and prove that the promotion's straps aren't just for recent ex-WWE main eventers.

In wrestling, booking is just as important as in-ring work. Sometimes a performer will be a dynamite worker but never earn an opportunity to shine, while others get chance after chance to prove their worth despite being fixtures of Botchamania. Fortunately, if PAC can continue to ride this wave and marry his work with his All-Atlantic opportunity, Mustafa Ali won't have to call him underrated for long, as “The Bastard” will finally earn his chance to shine.