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On February 14, 2020, WWE fans were left wondering whether there had been a technical issue on WWE SmackDown after the broadcast appeared to cut out during a match between Bayley and Carmella.
Later in the show, exactly the same thing happened during Elias’ entrance and it soon became clear that the glitch was the start of a new WWE storyline.
As the weeks went on, a mysterious hacker began issuing cryptic warnings to the rest of the WWE SmackDown roster. Wearing all-black and seated in a room full of monitors and computer coding, the hacker’s first major moment came on April 3 when he played footage of Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville working together to sabotage Mandy Rose’s Valentine’s Day date with Otis.
Following that reveal, the hacker turned his attention to other members of the SmackDown roster, specifically tag teams.
By the end of May, all kinds of theories had emerged about who the hacker was and what they could reveal next. Then, after being featured on WWE television almost every week for three months, the storyline came to an unexpected halt.
As of the time of writing, the hacker’s official WWE Twitter account has not tweeted in two months, and the person who many people thought would be revealed as the hacker – Mustafa Ali – recently returned as a WWE RAW Superstar.
So, has this storyline been dropped forever? Could Ali still be the hacker? Was he even the hacker in the first place?
In this article, let’s take a look at five WWE Superstars who could be revealed as the hacker if WWE decides to revisit the storyline.
#5 Mustafa Ali (WWE RAW)
As you can see above, the picture on the left is usually shown on two monitors in the background while the mystery hacker sits with his back to the camera to hide his identity. The picture is clearly very similar to Mustafa Ali’s ‘Chase the Light’ logo, which you can see in the picture on the right.
The similarities between the two logos prompted speculation that Ali could be the person behind this storyline, especially as he had not competed in a match on WWE SmackDown in two months when the first glitch was shown on television.
Ali’s seven-month absence from WWE programming came to an end on the July 20 episode of WWE RAW when he joined forces with Cedric Alexander and Ricochet to defeat Bobby Lashley, MVP and Shelton Benjamin in a six-man tag team match.
It had been widely assumed that the former WWE 205 Live Superstar was going to reappear on SmackDown with a new gimmick as the hacker, so his recent return on the red brand took many WWE fans by surprise.
Given that the brand-exclusive rules are extremely vague in 2020, we would be foolish to rule out the possibility of the hacker storyline moving across to RAW, with Ali being revealed as the person behind the cryptic messages.
#4 Chad Gable (WWE SmackDown)
Chad Gable (aka Shorty G) formed a short-lived tag team with Mustafa Ali on WWE SmackDown in late 2019. He went on to feud with Sheamus in early 2020 before taking a break from in-ring competition between February 14 and May 29.
Interestingly, although Gable appeared on the same episode of WWE SmackDown when the first glitches occurred in the Bayley vs. Carmella match and during Elias’ entrance, he did not compete at all whenever the hacker made appearances on the show.
One Twitter user even altered the sound of the hacker’s messages and found out that the unedited voices appeared to reveal the hacker(s) as Ali and Gable.
This theory would certainly make a lot of sense. Ali and Gable suddenly stopped teaming together in December 2019 and they were both off WWE television during the time that the hacker’s videos aired on SmackDown.
When you consider that the hacker also appeared to target tag teams at one stage, there is every chance that Gable was going to be revealed as one of the hackers alongside Ali.
With Ali now on RAW, could WWE allow Gable to run with the hacker storyline by himself on SmackDown?
#3 Bo Dallas (WWE SmackDown)
In October 2019, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel lost a Tag Team Turmoil match against The New Day's Big E and Kofi Kingston at WWE Crown Jewel.
Almost two months later, the former WWE NXT Champion teased a character change when he tweeted that he was on a "life-changing expedition" and fans will witness "a Bo you've never seen" when he returns.
Fast forward seven months, Dallas is yet to reappear on WWE television and his B-Team tag team partner, Curtis Axel, has been released from his contract.
Looking through the WWE SmackDown roster, the one-time WWE RAW Tag Team Champion is someone who would definitely benefit from being given the hacker gimmick, especially now that his four-year association with Axel has come to an end.
From a storyline perspective, it would have made sense for Dallas to target tag teams in the same way that the hacker did. Now, with Axel gone, that storyline would no longer have worked, which might explain why we have not seen the hacker for the last two months.
#2 Tucker (WWE SmackDown)
Before the WWE Universe collectively decided that Mustafa Ali was the hacker, Tucker was one of the main contenders to be revealed as the man in front of the monitors.
The first few weeks of this WWE SmackDown storyline revolved around Otis and Mandy Rose, with the hacker threatening to reveal the truth about what went wrong on their Valentine’s Day date.
Otis and Rose arranged to meet at a restaurant, but Otis arrived later than planned after receiving a text from Rose saying she was running late. Once the Heavy Machinery member got there, he immediately left after seeing that Rose had decided to enjoy a date with Dolph Ziggler instead.
The hacker revealed on the final episode of WWE SmackDown before WWE WrestleMania 36 that Sonya Deville worked with Ziggler to sabotage the date. This ended speculation that Tucker may have ruined the date for his Heavy Machinery tag team partner, but it did not stop rumors that he could be the hacker.
After all, the hacker helped Otis win over Rose, and who would want that to happen? Tucker, of course.
Granted, this theory is somewhat flawed because Tucker was at ringside when the hacker’s Valentine’s Day recording aired, but this is sports entertainment we are talking about. Maybe he hired someone else to play the recording?!
#1 Shane McMahon (‘fired’ from WWE in 2019)
CM Punk’s name has been mentioned a lot when WWE fans speculate over the identity of the hacker, but could another “Best in the World” be revealed in the role instead?
Shane McMahon lost a Career vs. Career ladder match against Kevin Owens on the first episode of WWE SmackDown on FOX in October 2019. Since then, Vince McMahon’s son has not been seen on WWE television, but his name continues to crop up on social media when the hacker storyline is discussed.
You only need to take one look through Twitter search results for ‘Shane McMahon hacker’ to see that many WWE fans genuinely think that the former SmackDown Commissioner could be the hacker.
There are plausible theories why the other people in this list might be sending threatening warnings to other WWE Superstars. As for Shane O’Mac, it is difficult to predict what motive he could have for targeting members of the WWE roster.
The fact that Shane has not been on WWE programming during this storyline means he cannot be ruled out. But, much like when he won the WWE World Cup in 2018, Shane being revealed as the hacker would come as a huge surprise to many people.
