Retribution (stylized in all caps) was a stable of professional wrestlers who performed in the WWE for the Raw brand. The group, led by Mustafa Ali, featured Mace, Slapjack, T-Bar, Reckoning, and Retaliation. The heel team were first portrayed on television in August 2020, disbanding in March the following year.
In the group's early months, masked henchman appeared on Raw, being presented as a group of spurned performers whose goal was to destroy the company. They made their debut on August 3, 2020, then fully masked as hoods and with a lifestyle as Thieves; the identities of most members would be revealed on September 21, with Ali revealed as the group's previously unseen leader on October 5. The team disbanded at Fastlane in March 2021 after Mace and T-Bar rebelled against Ali.
From its debut to its dissolution, Retribution was consistently met with negative reaction from critics, fans and industry figures. Although the performers were considered talented, their booking, attires, ring names and personas were all critically panned, being referred to as "hideous" and "hastily thrown together." Some critics considered the group irrevocably doomed from the beginning, being damaging to the careers of its members. They were the recipient of the 2020 Gooker Award, awarded to the worst gimmick, storyline, match or event in wrestling that year.
History
On the August 3, 2020, episode of Raw, lights in the WWE Performance Center began flickering on and off and a masked group of vigilante-hood esque gimmick set fire to a generator. Four days later, on the August 7 (taped on August 4) 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. 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.
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. 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. Shortly thereafter, Martinez requested her removal from the group, and was quietly returned to NXT. 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.
At the Hell in a Cell Kickoff Show, Mustafa Ali challenged any member of The Hurt Business to face one member of Retribution. On the main show, MVP confirmed that Bobby Lashley would 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. On the October 26 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.