WWE News: SmackDown Live superstar undergoes name change

What’s the story?

Name changes have become a very common in WWE these days and it looks like another superstar has had one – 2nd one in 2019. After Andrade 'Cien' Almas was shortened to Andrade, WWE seem to have changes Mustafa Ali's name to just 'Ali'.

In case you didn’t know…

Andrade 'Cien' Almas was the name the Mexican wrestler was using ever since he made his way to WWE. He made his NXT and Main Roster debut with the same name but things changed earlier this year.

WWE shortened his name to just Andrade in mid-January. They did a similar change to Apollo Crews' name as well towards the end of 2018 but it was restored later one. Heavy Machinery's Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight also had their names changed to Otis & Tucker towards the end of 2018.

In recent times, a few other superstars who had similar changes to their names are Cesaro (from Antonio Cesaro), Big E (from Big E Langston) and Rusev (from Alexander Rusev).

All names were changed without giving a reason nor were they actually announced by WWE on their social media platforms or their website.

The heart of the matter

Mustafa Ali has had his name changed to just Ali on WWE.com. The former 205 Live star had already changed his username on Twitter from @MustafaAliWWE to @AliWWE.

What’s next?

WWE have not announced why his name was changed nor has Ali himself said anything about it. The change comes as a surprise to all as there was no real hint about it nor was it needed for the storyline like 'The New Daniel Bryan'.

What do you think of the recent name changes? Are WWE just meddling with things that are not broken? Are they really needed? Sound off in the comments section below!