Mustafa Ali Was Originally Meant To Be WWE SmackDown Hacker

With Ali's impending move to the Raw brand, does that mean the hacker story has been dropped?

by Andrew Pollard
Mustafa Ali
WWE.com

Following on from this week’s news that Mustafa Ali was being moved from SmackDown to Raw, now comes an update on WWE’s mysterious hacker storyline.

Many had believed that Ali was to be revealed as the mastermind behind this mystery, and now Dave Meltzer has moved to claim that that was indeed the original plan.

The Wrestling Observer reports that Ali was intended to be the person targeting the SmackDown roster and their secrets, but those plans have since been changed.

Said hacker has been relatively quiet in recent weeks, and @TheMessageWWE has likewise been silent. Does this mean that the hacker story has been completely dropped? Well, this wouldn’t be the first time WWE has given up on something without giving any explanation.

Then again, WWE may opt to simply replace Ali with somebody else. Previously, Shorty G, Dana Brooke, and Xavier Woods were all suggested candidates to be the hacker – and maybe WWE still moves forward with A.N. Other in Ali's place.

As of now, Mustafa Ali is still officially listed as a SmackDown superstar, but the hugely talented high-flyer is expected to head to the Raw brand once he returns to WWE TV.

Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.