In a recent interview with The Wrestling Classic, former WWE Superstar Mustafa Ali opened up about his short-lived but memorable “Hacker” persona from 2020, revealing backstage creative struggles that led to the gimmick’s early demise.
Ali shared that the original plan was for the Hacker character to expose Dolph Ziggler during his romantic storyline involving Mandy Rose, Otis, and Sonya Deville, culminating in a WrestleMania blow-off. “The only actual creative plan that I knew about was that the first program, the first feud was gonna be me and Dolph Ziggler,” Ali explained. “The idea was that I leak footage, or somehow I inform Mandy that Dolph’s intentions aren’t true and Sonya’s in on it.”
However, the storyline was dropped almost immediately after WrestleMania. According to Ali, this was due to behind-the-scenes issues between the creative teams of Raw and SmackDown. “There was a dynamic power shift at the time… I think it was Paul Heyman and Bruce Prichard, and there was some sort of power struggle with that,” Ali said. “I believe both shows wanted the character, and there was like a fight over it… I suffer from being too popular, legit,” he joked.
The Hacker character appeared in several cryptic vignettes and was speculated to be tied to a larger WWE conspiracy angle, but nothing materialized. Later that year, Ali would go on to lead the faction Retribution, though that group also faced frequent creative shifts and criticism.
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