RETRIBUTION

[0.0] "I always thought to myself that CM Punk should've been the leader of Retribution, though after seeing the way this stable was booked? It's for the better that he was never involved. From the stupid names that were carried by wrestlers for far too long all the way to the ridiculous booking that made these guys look like jokes, this whole stable felt like an amazing concept that was ruined by the lazy execution. A damn shame, unfortunately."

[0.0] "A stable so BAD it sunked everyone involved... the names are horrible, the segments were boring... not only that... they were announced like some kind of new Shield, thing were going to change, chaos everywhere... and this... this is what we got"

[0.0] "I had completely forgotten about this group until I saw it mentioned in the sidebar. I wish I still wasn't thinking about them but it is what it is. Aside from the stable consisting of decent workers, the whole concept was terrible. The stable name has potential but the names given to the wrestlers is pretty damn bad XD"

[1.0] "Giving it one point due to the IDEA of retribution being good, but the execution, the outfits and the names made it impossible to take them seriously."

[0.0] "What even was that? Bringing some wrestlers from NXT to main roster to this fraction just to fire them not a long time later?"

[1.0] "When people think about a failed faction, Retribution might forever be knows as the example for people to site. They came about as sort of an ANTIFA ripoff, but quickly went from being portrayed as serious to be seen as goofs. Their roster makeup was unknown & undecided for a time, but once the core five members were decided upon, they were quickly given terrible names & masks. Martinez got out of dodge as quickly as possible, but the rest were left to suffer in this terrible stable. The only reason I'm giving this one point is because Mustafa coming in showed the slightest amount of hope that maybe something interesting could come. But that hope was quickly dashed & this group failed in every way."

[3.0] "Abysmal booking but a tad overhated. Can't really call it one of the worst factions of all when they basically did nothing of relevance. They were just... there, waiting for a moment that never came, apparently just a Vince punchline against protesters. It's more of a missed opportunity than a disgrace to pro wrestling."

[0.0] "I just want to be 100%, 1000% clear, this has nothing to do with the wrestlers themselves. But everything to do with Vince McMahon purposefully writing this garbage."

[1.0] "The most frustrating thing about the failure of Retribution is hearing Ali talk about the ideas he had for the stable that would've probably done a lot of good for all involved, and none of them ever saw the light of day."

"A copy & paste of both the Nexus & the New Blood. No originality, & knowing it was during the pandemic-era, I just knew nothing good could come out if it."

[1.0] "Without getting too much into the political aspect of this stable, Retribution was a mess that didn't need to exist in the first place. Of course, you HAD talent; Mustafa Ali, Dijak, and Mia Yim to name a few. However, the bad booking and the whole entire decision to make this stable into a carbon copy of a certain political movement got a lot of flak from the Wrestling Community and especially the FOX Corporation, who had front office executives halt the plans to have this stable do things related to said political movement on TV when Smackdown was on FOX. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if this stable was one of the key contributions to Smackdown losing it's gig on FOX, as Vince McMahon was continuing to make really terrible booking decisions on the fly from 2017-2020. Let's leave this in the past because everyone who was involved in this mess of a stable deserves and did deserve MUCH better."

[1.0] "Man, when the group first debuted in the pandemic I was actually kind of excited. Having chaos and anarchy and stuff can be fun (remember The Nexus when they first showed up? ) but eventually it became wretched garbage of horrible creative. How do you take amazingly talented and charismatic wrestlers like Dijak and Mia Yim and Shane Haste, and MUSTAFA FREAKING ALI and make them just bland and bad? It is honestly impressive."

[1.0] "The worst stable/faction in WWE history. Comically bad names for the members, completely wasted, Mia Yim was made to look like a complete joke, losing to Dana Brooke two weeks in a row, just awful."

[0.0] "[0.2] What the fuck even was this? They started out as notable millionaire with racist tendencies Vince McMahon's conception of what the BLM protestors in 2020 were like (which, keep in mind, was still actively ongoing as of when the stable was first put together) that for some ungodly reason were given contracts despite invading the performance center/thunderdome and being explicitly formed to destroy the company. Then came the identity reveals, and they just slapped a bunch of people who had legitimate talent with of the ugliest masks and most stupid names I've ever seen and sent them out to job. Mustafa Ali was eventually revealed as the faction's leader, which was kinda cool, but it was way too little too late. This faction was dead on arrival and they were eventually left to disband on the Fastlane pre-show after 7 months together. An utter travesty of a faction and the embodiment of the worst of 2020 in WWE. The fact this didn't do significant lasting damage to the careers of everyone involved is a miracle."

[0.0] "Just awful in every sense of the word. One of those stables that tarnished everyone involved and will no doubt go down as one of the most notoriously bad and cringey stables of all time."

[1.0] "If you look at the talent this faction had, there was so much missed potential here. There presentation was off with the weird masks and costumes."

[0.0] "The most incorrect use of all wrestlers involved in one of the dumbest fucking angles that took inspiration from the BLM protests of the time. The fact pretty much everyone here was able to bounce back from this and still be seen with respect is a fucking miracle, due to how this could have easily killed EVERYONE'S careers. The peak of 2020's awful quality in terms of storywriting and booking, it's genuinely incredible that Roman Reign's incredible heel turned happened the same year."

[0.0] "Retribution was so bad that it had to be done on purpose. I mean, where to begin? I guess with the name. Retribution can be defined as "the dispensing or receiving of reward or punishment especially in the hereafter". With that in mind, what recompense was this group after? As far as I can remember they never really had any goal in mind other than "cause mayhem". So then why not be called Mayhem? Or Bedlam? Or Chaos? OK maybe not that one. But maybe something actually appropriate? So they show up, wreck things, cause all this mayhem, and then they just like, get contracts? This is one of those instances where wrestling bookers think we are literal babies incapable of even the slightest critical thinking skills. Then there's the elephant in the room of this group being an obvious ersatz ANTIFA from the mind of an insane, out-of-touch 70-year-old billionaire and personal friend of Donald Trump. Nuff said on that, I think. The most egregious offense, however, was the treatment of the wrestlers themselves. Nobody in this group deserved this. Retribution was a really great collection of wrestlers (and Dio Maddin) being given the most stupid names possible in the most embarrassing get-ups possible. Nothing about this was good. Nobody got over. Nobody found greener pastures after this. Nobody won any belts or even wrestled on a PLE except Ali showing up in the Royal Rumble for a little bit. They were a laughingstock from the get-go. Quite possibly the worst thing to come from the Thunderdome era of WWE, which is saying A LOT."

"It started so good before the member revelation. I think it was a waste of talent and storyline. They totally forgot about they hacker and the bunch of people that appeared at the performance Center destroying everything. So glad it does not existe anymore."

[6.0] "This was a good group of wrestlers, I wouldn't have minded this stable if they ahd their names the way they were because every single one of these wrestlers are talented as hell."

[0.0] "One of the worst stables of all time. It was just downright awful. It wasnt the fault of the talent by any means, who are all great wrestlers, but the way WWE went about implementing this stable was nothing short of horrid and I genuinely hope it never gets mentioned again. It was so bad that it did legitimate damage to the careers of all the talent involved in it, some of whom are still suffering from the effects of it. Absolutel shit/10"

[0.0] "The worst thing in WWE in 2020, and trust me there were A LOT of horrible things about WWE in 2020. Nonstop cringe."

[0.0] "I think this would have been a good idea if it was lead by an average wrestler with the rest being performance center guys. But the fact that they used Ali, one of the most underrated wrestlers in the company, mia yim, who was totally fine on her own, and dijak fresh off of some bangers with keith lee, was the downfall of this. One of the worst decisions in recent WWE memory."

[1.0] "I was a fan of the idea, I was fond of it, I waited for it, I hoped it would be like the new Nexus ... But I was disappointed. This is certainly the biggest disappointment of the WWE pandemic era. Completely wasted potential. I give 1, not 0 just because the idea and gimnick were cool."

[2.0] "A stable where ever member was talented but the gimmick is so bad it hurt all of them. Mustafa Ali reveal gave hope for the stable but that was quickly dashed. One of the worst stables creative have put together recently"

[0.0] "I remember it with bad memory because I did not see how it was born, however, it ended in the worst way at the moment where Mustafa Ali needed a boost and they end up with this stable, which although it did not promise much, it was not bad either, but its end was the worst thing that could happen to them, now they are jobbers."

[1.0] "A stable that went down like a wet far in a elevator. Creative did not have a clue where they were going with this"

[1.0] "Failed experiment. One of the worst stables in history. The idea was good and I loved Mustafa's reveal but it soon went downhill from there. WWE had no idea what to do with the cast they had. Creative fault and not the wrestlers."

[0.0] "A total failure, they did nothing and were treated very badly by the creatives, it had not been even 3 weeks since they revealed their faces and the stable was already being treated as jobbers, a shame because no matter how basic it was, it had some potential."

[0.0] "Perhaps the worst stable in WWE history, and that's saying something! Bunch of goofy-looking jobbers, wish The Rock had came back and buried them in a segment; now that would've been entertaining!"

[0.0] "It could have been something interesting, but the poor booking at first really made RETRIBUTION's stock plummet. Additionally, their "takeover" of WWE has been rather tame, and uneventful. All of the anti-WWE vignettes, Smackdown hacker angle, and build up led to this? I really want to say there's potential here, but it seemed like they were destined for trouble at the get-go, with those corny names and tacky masks. This stable is *so* close to a 0, but their twitter game is quite entertaining. Just wish their booking was as good. (UPDATE, 4/21/21) Hahahahahahahaha"

[1.0] "This faction was booked awfully. But I believed in a success for Ali. It's for this I'm putting a 1, because I believed in it. Making them separate in a ppv kickoff shows how much this wasn't important for them. Their booking was illogical, trying to break everything then go on commentary."

[0.0] "I will revise this rating as the group develops, but apart from all the weird booking with them, especially them being offered contracts after constantly destroying equipment and ruining matches - why is Keith Lee not perturbed that the group that has occasionally targeted him counts his best friend (Dominik Dijakovic/T-BAR) and girlfriend (Mia Yim) amongst its members? EDIT MARCH 2021: It was even worse than expected, and now a couple of them have left, or Mustafa Ali got kicked out, goodness knows what! Everyone affiliated has been affected badly by the booking here."

[2.0] "Retribution... ruined all the wrestlers involved in this damn scenario. It makes me realize how much Vince hates and dislikes NXT. I think Ali's been trying to save this abomination somehow, but... Well, you can see the results."

[3.0] "A group of very talented NXT guys and girls ruined with this gimmick. They're supposed to be dominant but lose on most weeks. They are picking up more wins now and Ali has a US Championship opportunity which will hopefully revive the group."

[5.0] "I thought RETRIBUTION was going to be used superbly at RAW, but since they got into rivalry with Hurt Business (and even as they started talking), this clan has become a joke. Even the fact that Mustafa Ali has become their leader, they are just losing. And frankly, I think it's a shame, because I'm sure that many people (myself included) see potential in this clan."

[7.0] "This rating suffered bad, because shitty booking they got on first month when Stable formed. After Ali Joined and start leading them, It become finally interesting. I like all members except T-Bar.."

[0.0] "Can't say I was that into this group to begin with. Just felt like they were trying to redo a version of the Nexus debut sprinkled with some of the Shield's original "injustice" rebel type gimmick. Considering all the bad riots in the states as soon as this was happening it made a lot of people turn off from this from the start. As weeks gone on this group has become less and less credible and more and more corny. At least with the Dark Order in AEW they have had periods of up and down even if they started turned off by the fans. Yeah, fuck this group. If there was a -1 vote I would give this faction that rating"

[2.0] "Terrible faction and a stupid storyline (they vandalised and got then a contract.. ). On a positive note I want to point out that they at least have enough sense of shame to wear masks while embarrassing the sadly unfortunate Ali with their performances. So that's something to avoid the 0."

[0.0] "There is no saving Retribution. Everyone in that group deserves better than to be mishandled with such a shoddy, terrible, uninspired gimmick. It would have been better if the Evolve wrestlers became Retribution instead of Madden, Dijakovic, Thorne, Yim and Ali (at least Mercedes Martinez managed to leave the group while she still could). While it is started off with promise as a group of uncontrollable arsonists and property destructors (albeit in poor taste comparing it to the riots in early 2020), the gimmick nose-dived into oblivion when those masks were introduced and they "signed WWE contracts" which goes against their entire philosophy. Someone who wrecked WWE property shouldn't even care about contracts or the WWE itself! Now, Retribution is stuck in mid-card hell against the Hurt Business. It sucks for the wrestlers involved who are trying their hardest to make it work, especially Dijakovic and Ali."

[0.0] "This group is already booked badly. The names of the members are absolutely ridiculous (Seriously WWE? Slapjack? ) Not to mention that the group's first promo was laughed at by some producers backstage. Turns out I was right about Retribution having a terrible future. T-Bar tapping out to Bobby Lashley is absolutely ridiculous and even the surprise reveal of Mustafa Ali being the leader can't save this group. Terrible group, terrible gimmicks, and terrible booking. Feel bad for everyone that is in this group."

[1.0] "The creative process behind Retribution was probably akin to somebody suggesting a "angrier and louder" version of Nexus, access to a time machine optional, with everybody else nodding in approval. I honestly don't even want to know how they came up with such pathetic names as Retaliation and Slapjack: WWE has never been remotely good at finding ring names for their talents (remember Baron Von Ruthless? ) but this time they outdid themselves. This stable was pretty much dead on arrival and now it's up to WWE to decide whether to quickly and quietly kill it or have it drag on and on seemingly forever."

[0.0] "Retribution sucks. Bad gimmick, bad names, bad presentation, bad group. In a time of real life riots in America due to many different things, it baffles me that WWE would make the tasteless decision to recreate this on TV. Not only do they take good wrestlers and give them really bad gimmicks, they fail to make an interesting story. Not going to change my rating because they can't salvage this group. Nothing enjoyable has come from Retribution and nothing ever will."

[0.0] "Bad booking, bad names, bad gimmick. I find nothing interesting in this group. Until there is a change, my rating will be a 0."

[0.0] "That's just a fail from top to bottom. The first appearance was mediocre at best, they didn't even knew who was gonna be in the group, they're wearing silly masks and... oh yeah, SLAPJACK!"