Mustafa Ali reveals all about the WWE hacker storyline (Exclusive)
Mustafa Ali has given an insight into why he became a hacker as part of a WWE storyline.
In early 2020, a mysterious figure cryptically promised to deliver the truth about various goings-on behind the scenes on SmackDown. Several months after the storyline appeared to have ended, Ali revealed that he was responsible for the hacks.
Speaking to Sportskeeda Wrestling's Riju Dasgupta, Ali said he came up with the hacker idea at a time when his on-screen persona lacked direction:
"I wasn't told that I was being the hacker. The hacker was another concept of mine that I had presented while sitting at home. Again, with this industry sometimes it's about you, sometimes it's not, and I was doing the light-up character, the light-up mask, the light-up look, and it was another thing where I think the powers that be, or the creative team in the process, didn't see the layers of that character. It was just the underdog good guy." [7:26 – 7:56]
As the host of Miz TV, two-time WWE Champion The Miz often features in other people's storylines on television. Ali wanted to create a similar role for himself, with his hacker character able to obtain information about fellow superstars on the show:
"I wanted to come up with a character that could help progress other people's storylines. Someone that doesn't get enough credit for that is The Miz. Miz TV is so great. If you want to bring two people together and you don't really know what the common ground is, just have them on Miz TV, and Miz is such a great instigator and host, so I wanted to take that same concept as a babyface, as a good guy, as the hacker." [7:58 – 8:23]
Watch the video above to find out the full story behind Ali almost receiving Hulk Hogan's "Real American" as his WWE entrance theme.
Mustafa Ali on the hacker gimmick's most notable WWE moment
In the build-up to WrestleMania 36, the hacker shared backstage footage of Sonya Deville sabotaging Mandy Rose's Valentine's Day date with Otis.
That mysterious hacker over on #SmackDown ... that was me.
- Mustafa Ali
#WWE #WWERaw https://t.co/HiWmG8yx6y
Mustafa Ali said the character disclosed that information because he was designed to be a good guy:
"The hacker is this guy that's snooping around, but for just and noble reasons, finding people doing bad things. The Sonya and Mandy story is an example where someone's doing wrong and then the hacker reveals it to the good person, and now they can compete against each other." [8:23 – 8:42]
Ali also revealed how the hacker idea was less about showcasing in-ring ability and more about advancing his WWE persona:
"That was my intention behind it. It wasn't like, 'Hey, here's how I can have some great matches,' and go, 'This is how I can always be involved in the story.' So, the concept of the hacker was entirely mine. Even those first couple of vignettes that people saw online, those were all self-produced at home. I made all of them." [8:43 – 8:57]
The storyline led to Otis kissing Mandy Rose at WrestleMania 36 after defeating Dolph Ziggler. It also resulted in Rose winning a No Disqualification Loser Leaves WWE match against Deville at SummerSlam 2020.
Ali initially had no idea how WWE wanted to present the hacker, but he liked the way the character was introduced:
"The storyline itself with Mandy, Otis, Dolph, and Sonya, that was WWE. They said, 'Hey, this is how we're gonna introduce the character,' and I was all for it. I thought it was great. People loved it, people loved Otis and Mandy. I think people were really interested to see what the hacker would eventually do. But, yeah, that was the first time that I was told what the hacker would be doing. To answer your question, my reaction was, 'Great, I think it'll be awesome.'" [8:59 – 9:23]
In the same interview, Ali also explained what really happened with WWE's presentation of the villainous RETRIBUTION faction.
What did you make of the hacker gimmick? Let us know in the comments section below.
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