Factions in professional wrestling can be an easy way to elevate a group of talent. In WWE, examples like The Bloodline, Evolution and D-Generation X are prime examples of this. However for each success, there is often two major failures.
None stand out more in recent memory than Retribution – a group which many felt was dead on arrival. WWE tried to revive the group after a bad debut by assigning popular name Mustafa Ali to the group – but it was something even he was unable to save.
Mustafa Ali Feels Key Information About The Faction Never Made It To TV
During a recent interview with Riju Dasgupta, Mustafa Ali had a chance to explain why he thinks Retribution failed so hard in WWE.
“The fatal thing about it was it never had a why. As much as I tried with online promos, I gave everything a reason because here’s the thing. I didn’t come up with the concept of Retribution. I didn’t come up with the names. I was just kind of given this thing, but at the end of the day, it was an opportunity, so I was like, rolling up my sleeves, stepping up, you know, ready to swing. I’m like, I’m gonna hit a home run with this.
In all honesty, I thought I did. I had reasons for the names. I had reasons why we were all together and what brought us together. I had answered the whys, but the problem is the whys never made it to TV for you, the viewer, to understand the whys. Although social media has a lot of reach, there’s nothing that beats live TV because that’s what gets the most views.
So we were just kind of, I don’t wanna say a victim, but it was just the placement on the card. Things took priority and ultimately, I think because the people that put it together, they didn’t have the real ‘why’ initially and that’s why it kind of just fell through the cracks. I went down swinging with it. I am forever thankful for the opportunity because I think it proved that I could cut one hell of a promo and that I could be a leader.”
Retribution was quietly broken up in 2022, with all members slowly moving into new gimmicks. The last to get rebranded was T-Bar, who is now Dijak on the NXT roster.
Did WWE fail to give Retribution a chance? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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