Retribution (professional wrestling)

On the August 3, 2020 episode of Raw, lights in the WWE Performance Center began flickering on and off and a masked vigilante group set fire to a generator.[1] Four days later, on the August 7 episode of SmackDown, members attacked the announcers and the audience. The group would end their attack by using a chainsaw to cut the ring ropes down.[2] As the weeks progressed, the group began to explain their actions, referring to perceived unfair treatment as they came up through the WWE system, and the desire to upend said system.[3][4]

On the September 21 episode of Raw, it was revealed that NXT wrestlers Dominik Dijakovic, Dio Maddin, Shane Thorne, Mercedes Martinez, and Mia Yim were the primary members of the stable, being subsequently revealed as going under the new ring names of T-Bar, Mace, Slapjack, Retaliation, and Reckoning respectively. That same night, T-Bar, Mace, and Slapjack made their in-ring debut against The Hurt Business (Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and Cedric Alexander) in the main event, losing by disqualification.[5][6][7] On the October 5 episode of Raw, Mustafa Ali was revealed as the leader of the stable as he ordered them to attack The Hurt Business during his match with MVP.[8] Shortly thereafter, Martinez requested her removal from the group, and was quietly returned to NXT.[9][10] On the October 19 episode of Raw, Retribution lost a 4 vs 4 tag team match to the Hurt Business after T-Bar submitted to Lashley's Full Nelson. Afterwards, they all would be attacked by "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.[11]

At the Hell in a Cell Kickoff Show, Mustafa Ali challenged any member of The Hurt Business to face one member of Retribution.[12] On the main show, MVP confirmed that Bobby Lashley will face off against Slapjack. All members of each faction were not allowed to be present at ringside and it was a WWE United States Championship match. Bobby Lashley then defeated Slapjack to retain the United States Championship. Retribution then attacked Lashley, but retreated when the rest of The Hurt Business came.[13] On the October 27 episode of Raw, Ali, T-Bar, Mace and Slapjack competed in a 4 on 4 elimination tag team match against The Hurt Business, losing by disqualification after Ali hit Alexander with a chair.[14]

Retribution picked up their first win in WWE, defeating Keith Lee, Braun Strowman, Sheamus and Riddle of Raw's Survivor Series team on the November 16, 2020 edition of Raw, with Ali pinning Riddle.[15] On November 17, Retribution (kayfabe) hacked the WWE Twitter account and released a set of Twitter fleets of members T-Bar, Mace, Slapjack and Reckoning explaining their motives for being in the group.[16] On the November 26th edition of Main Event, Retribution appeared as a guest on Miz TV explaining their motives and attacked Drew Gulak (dressed as The Gobbledy Gooker). On December 19, T-Bar posted a photo of Retribution on Twitter with Ricochet teasing he might be in the group.

Retribution met with immediate censure upon their debut in August 2020.[17] PWTorch journalist Zack Heydorn felt the group did not deliver on WWE's preceding hype, saying, "Nothing about Retribution's current presentation screams danger, fear, or evil. They are like gnats that presumably could get swatted away with a flick of the wrist."[18] Adam Silverstein of CBS Sports wrote of the group's second appearance, "Mostly, they just jumped around and yelled, 'Yeah!' like a bunch of teenagers making trouble after school. It is clear this faction was rushed and not thought out well. Perhaps next week with a new set of tapings there will be a clearer direction, but right now, it's terrible."[19] Due to their attire and anti-social behaviour, Retribution have been compared to antifa groups.[20][21] ProWrestling.net editor Jason Powell remarked "WWE Antifa continues to underwhelm. [...] There should be a growing sense of excitement regarding the identities of the masked individuals, but this is going so poorly that I'm actually hoping that certain wrestlers are not involved in this mess."[20]

Negative critical response would continue over the next few months. Kevin Berge of Bleacher Report commented on the group's "awful" identity reveal: "Retribution took charge of the September 21 edition of Monday Night Raw. While this had potential to change many people's perception of the group, instead the entire night fell woefully flat. Retribution came out in goofy masks... Talented stars are lost in an angle that may never recover."[22] PWTorch reporter Frank Peteani called Retribution a "hideous angle on many levels", and suggested that the stable's fan interaction on social media may be an effort to mitigate the negative audience response.[23] Dave LaGreca, host of Sirius XM's Busted Open, found WWE's awarding contracts to the outlaw group to be nonsensical.[24] In October, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful noted that the group had faced comparisons to The Dark Order of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and called it "a hastily thrown together project after Vince McMahon was repeatedly questioned about declining viewership, lack of creative direction and an absence of new stars." He lambasted the storyline, writing, "The rollout of Retribution sucked... It didn't make any sense, and really still doesn't. Why were they allowed in the venue? Why weren't they arrested?"[25] During a November Q&A, PWInsider's Dave Scherer was asked if Retribution can recover, to which he said, "They have been booked sooooo badly I don't think they can ever be more than just there." Scherer lamented that Ali, being the only member not to have his "[identity] mostly hidden", will "have permanent stink on him".[26] On another Q&A in December, Scherer said that the faction was "a bunch of losers [...] They have totally blown that whole faction. It's epically bad."[27]

Retribution's presentation has also received negative reactions from past and present industry figures. Former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) announcer Mark Madden and AEW wrestler Chris Jericho expressed confusion as to why WWE would hire the faction, with the former saying that "wrestling can be so stupid sometimes".[21][24] Retired wrestler CM Punk joked that the mask worn by Slapjack was a consequence of his being "bored in catering" near "an abundance of paper plates".[28] Former WCW and WWE executive Eric Bischoff feigned confusion between "T-Bone or T-BAR or T-Rex", and stated, "It's a fucked up story. It just is. Could you possibly screw up an invasion storyline any more in such a short period of time?"[29] Fightful reported that they had discussed the stable with several WWE talents: the members' ring names were unanimously criticised, with one wrestler likening them to "something out of a bad movie or [video] game". A female talent lamented the casting of Martinez and Yim as Retribution members, saying that those women were "facing a battle to not make this look as dumb as it is".[17] Following Martinez (Retaliation)'s sudden removal from the group, retired wrestler Lance Storm called her a "survivor", and suggested she would be "breathing a sigh of relief".[30]

• WrestleCrap
  • Gooker Award (2020)

• Mustafa Ali on WWE.com
• T-Bar on WWE.com
• Mace on WWE.com
• Slapjack on WWE.com
• Reckoning on WWE.com