5 ways that WWE can still salvage RETRIBUTION
A lot of fans and professional wrestling analysts believe that the faction known as RETRIBUTION is already dead in the water in WWE. After weeks of simply targeting random WWE stars and symbols, the group zeroed in on MVP and the Hurt Business. It led to several matches in successive weeks, but in the end, the Hurt Business always came out on top.
It's hard for WWE to make both groups look menacing when one is always toppling the other. In this instance, it seemed as if it would have been the perfect time for WWE to use some 50/50 booking. That strategy is often met with some skepticism, but when debuting a huge new group with some talented members, 50/50 booking could have easily helped get RETRIBUTION over.
After targeting and falling to the Hurt Business several times, many felt that the debut of the dangerous group was mishandled. Ali and the group shifted their focus away from MVP's group and towards lower-hanging fruit on the RAW roster.
Over the last two weeks, Ricochet has been the group's target. He and Ali were friends and allies before the latter was revealed as the leader of RETRIBUTION. It still seems like Ali wants his friend to join the group. That could help things out for RETRIBUTION as could the following five suggestions that WWE could take to salvage the faction.
#5 WWE could tweak the look of RETRIBUTION's Slapjack
The immediate target of fans and pundits alike upon RETRIBUTION's WWE debut was Slapjack. His name was strange and his mask looked as if it was made by a middle-schooler. The masks of the rest of the members of the group were fine and fit the look and aura that the members were trying to present. Mustafa Ali did a lot of explaining over the past few weeks, revealing the reason behind Slapjack's weird moniker and mask.
"I know people love to poke fun at 'Slapjack' and the stupid mask. There's so much art in this story that I knew that a lot of it was going to go over people's heads. Imagine - this is just a crazy concept - imagine having people make preconceived ideas about you because of your name and what you look like. Imagine a guy named Mustafa Ali renaming people so that they could understand what it feels like to be judged by your name and what you look like. Continue to make fun of us like puppets because you guys don't appreciate real art. 'What a stupid name, he looks like an idiot', yeah, that's what I've been dealing with for 17 years. Art - ladies and gentleman, but you couldn't see it if it slapped you in your face."
WWE needed the explanation for those reasons to come out much sooner than almost two months after the group's debut. Had he done that in a promo right off the bat, things would have been smoother. But as we know, shows are often written and re-written even hours before the show goes to air. Slapjack's mask was clearly the standout among the group and not for a good reason.
Even if it were slightly more menacing or believable, it would have been an upgrade that still would have fit Ali's explanation.