WWE has many ideas floating around, but not every concept comes to fruition within the company. One such discarded idea involved a faction inspired by Antifa, which WWE swiftly abandoned.

Mace joined WWE in 2016 and marked his main roster debut in 2020 as part of the Retribution faction. Unfortunately, the plans for this group, led by Mustafa Ali, were inadequately conceived. 

During a conversation with Denise Salcedo on Instinct Culture, Mace shed light on the initial concept behind Retribution. He disclosed that WWE initially envisioned the group resembling Antifa but decided against it due to the potential controversy that would have ensued.

“[Where did the pitch come about? When did you think of it? How did you feel being part of Retribution?] There was no pitch. If you remember correctly, the initial appearance of Retribution was a bunch of extras because there were a bunch of like really small guys at the time. That’s why, that’s actually how I ended up being in it. There were a bunch of little small guys that were extras. They had no idea who they wanted them to be from what I understand. And I think they were trying to do an Antifa thing. I think that was the idea.“

“But at the same time, it’s a very big company. There’s not really much room for controversy anymore. So, at some point they were like, ‘Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t. But we already did this big angle and we need to kind of finish it in some capacity.”

What Is Antifa?

Antifa is short for “anti-fascist.” The group emerged with roots in various political ideologies, united by a shared opposition to fascist and far-right ideologies. Operating primarily in response to perceived threats of fascism and white supremacy, Antifa often employs direct action methods to counter such ideologies. 

Members of Antifa groups emphasize decentralized, grassroots organization, with no formal leadership structure. The movement’s tactics include protest, direct action, and, at times, confrontations with those they perceive as promoting fascist ideologies.

WWE may have considered making Retribution fall in line with this idea, but they went in a different direction.

WWE’s Wild Booking Of Retribution Stable

WWE didn’t make Retribution a politically-charged angle on television, but that doesn’t mean they had a plan in mind. 

WWE started that Retribution angle during the pandemic, with no live crowds or pay-out planned. This stable was a Vince McMahon vision from the beginning, and it did create interest during their early stages.

I was told at the time that Vince McMahon was mostly writing the angle on a week-to-week basis. This is why things changed so much about the faction, how many members there were, and who were even under the masks, until the big reveal.

Notable members included current AEW talent Mercedes Martinez, NXT standout Dijak, former NJPW star Shane Haste, and SmackDown’s Michin. Despite their introduction in August 2020, the faction disbanded seven months later with very little fanfare, and without giving Mustafa Ali much of a chance to really lead the stable.

Former WWE superstar Mercedes Martinez shared her thoughts on her issues in the group Retribution.

Martinez appeared on the Oral Session with Renee Paquette to discuss her short run on the WWE main roster. WWE made Martinez one of the original members of Retribution, but she requested to leave the group. In the interview, Martinez shared that lack of communication and creative difference led to her exit from the group.

“…Personally, I needed to know what the group was going to do. What is this group? What is the mentality of this group? Is this something personally that I can get behind? No one knew anything about this group,” said Martinez. She continued, “Mind you, everything was going on in the world with the riots. So is this group part of that because I don’t condone it. I don’t want to be a part of something that maybe mirrors something in real life.”

Martinez also shared that she was okay with the initial direction with the group, as long as WWE hid Retribution identity. However, WWE made the group reveal themselves, and she began to feel more uncomfortable with the gimmick.

More Details on Mercedes Martinez Main Roster run

Martinez has shared in previous interviews why she removed herself from the group. Although, In the interview with Paquette, Martinez revealed that WWE wanted to change her name before Martinez’s debut. However, WWE didn’t consult with Martinez about the decision, and she took offense to the decision.

“…It wasn’t okay to let me know that you were going to change my name the day of, without a contract. I was still on an NXT contract, and I’m not stupid. I’m a grown-ass woman. Talk to me. Don’t tell me the day of the show that you are going to change my name,” said Martinez. She continued, “We didn’t agree on that. We don’t agree on anything. If you want to do something, that’s fine. But don’t expect me to take it down lightly. I’m one of those people that if you talk to me, we can talk. I’m on an NXT contract, here we are on RAW. I’m not a part of Raw yet. Let’s talk. Let’s figure out what’s going on. The moment that happened, I was like, I can’t do this.”

While Martinez had creative differences with WWE, she shared that WWE understood her decision to return to NXT. She continued her WWE career in NXT until WWE released her on August 6th. Martinez is a free agent and is enjoying wrestling on her schedule. Although, She also doesn’t rule out a return to WWE as a coach to help develop talent in NXT.

After weeks of tension boiling within the group and Mustafa Ali blaming other members for the losses, Retribution finally turned on his leader at Fastlane.

The PPV kick off saw the former 205 Live star challenging Matt Riddle for his United States Championship with the Retribution members being on ring side.

The US champion applied a sleeper on his opponent towards the ending of the bout. Riddle then hit a super Bro Derek to pin Ali and retain his title.

Mustafa Ali once again started blaming the members of his group after this loss and he first directed his anger towards Reckoning, asking when she was going to carry her own weight.

The high-flying star told her to get back in line but she walked out of the ring instead. Ali continued ranting even after this leading to Slapjack walking out as well.

The Retribution leader then turned to the remaining two members in T-BAR and Mace to blame them but the duo ended up turning on their leader.

They delivered a High Justice double team chokeslam to Mustafa Ali. T-BAR and Mace then left the ring leaving Ali on the mat after the attack.

There is no word yet on if we will see all the Retribution members going their separate ways or they will continue being a team after kicking Mustafa Ali out of the group. We should get a better idea about their future on Raw.

• WWE Fastlane Results: Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan, The Fiend Returns

Earlier this week, the world witnessed a dark chapter in American history. Armed insurrectionists stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

Parody Twitter account @KayfabeNews released a meme comparing this group of violent terrorists to WWE’s Retribution faction. Retribution also used violent means to achieve their objectives and take over WWE events.

The meme, seen below, is an altered photo of the insurrectionists inside the Capitol. A “Trump” flag held by one of the men has been replaced by a flag depicting the Retribution logo. Another Retribution logo is overlaid front and center. The caption reads, “Worst invasion angle ever.”

Several members of Retribution saw the meme and strongly denounced the comparison. T-BAR wrote, “I’m the only white American in the group, so this comparison is not only inaccurate, quite frankly it’s embarrassing. Take your dumb joke and shove it up your ass.”

Reckoning also replied to the tweet, stating, said, “Don’t compare us to terrorists. Gtfo with this trash.”

Update: KayfabeNews has since deleted the original tweet and released a statement:

WWE faction Retribution has executed a hostile takeover of the company’s official Twitter account, @WWE. On Tuesday morning, the WWE Twitter account posted the following video of the takeover:

Retribution leader Mustafa Ali declared that the @WWE account is now his.

Since then, Retribution has been retweeting posts from the account @TheMessage:

Retribution members T-Bar, Mace and Reckoning

Twitter has launched a new featured called Fleets, which is similar to the ‘story’ functionality on competitor services like Snapchat and Instagram. Retribution members used the hijacked @WWE account to cut ‘fleet’ promos.

Mustafa Ali said, “Payback is for the weak. Retribution is for the strong. And now we write our own story. We have the pen in our hand – and if that pen pen should run out of ink, that’s fine because we will use our own blood to finish writing the story. We will not rest until we shut you down.”

Last month it was revealed that Mercedes Martinez was quietly removed from Retribution and moved back to the NXT roster.

She was a core member alongside T-Bar (Dominik Dijakovic), Slapjack (Shane Throne), Mace (Dio Madden), Reckoning (Mia Yim). WWE even gave her the name of Retaliation. This was before Mustafa Ali was revealed as the leader.

According to Fightful Select, the reason that Martinez was pulled from the group was due to her request to no longer be part of the storyline. She was removed from the Retribution stable prior to the group signing new contracts.

The report goes onto state that there were other names from NXT discussed to join the faction. However, WWE officials made the decision to keep the group as-is for now. As of the end of October, there were no plans to add another female member to the stable.

Her last match in NXT came on September 8th when she lost a Steel Cage Match against Rhea Ripley during NXT Super Tuesday II. There’s still no word yet as to when she’ll return to NXT television now that she’s no longer on the main roster. 

WWE Pulls Star From Retribution, Sent Back To NXT

RETRIBUTION leader Mustafa Ali has addressed why the stable’s members have names like T-BAR, Slapjack, Mace, and Reckoning.

Ali appeared on Raw Talk last night following Monday Night Raw, where he opened up about the names’ origins.

When first asked about the names, Ali scoffed at the question. He mocked R-Truth for asking it, questioning how a Superstar named R-Truth can even ask about odd names.

“Let me tell you why the members of RETRIBUTION look the way they look, and have the names they have,” Ali said. “Imagine being judged by your name. Imagine being mocked because of how you look. Now, imagine a guy named Mustafa Ali that gave the members of RETRIBUTION names and masks so that they can feel what he feels. So that they, too, can be judged by their names and how they look. It’s a crazy concept, isn’t it?”

Later in the show, Charly Caruso pushed Ali for a further explanation behind the Slapjack and T-BAR monikers. At this point, Ali asked RETRIBUTION to join him on-air. They subsequently interrupted the show, abruptly ending Raw Talk.

Mustafa Ali would also upload a short video to his Twitter account, reiterating his explanation of his deeper reasoning and logic behind the names chosen for his RETRIBUTION members.

WWE presents a live edition of Raw tonight from the Thunderdome in Orlando, Florida. In addition to the several items WWE is advertising for the show, Retribution leader Mustafa Ali is a ‘reboot’ for the faction.

Mustafa Ali posted a message on Twitter over the weekend addressing Retribution’s ‘mixed’ success to date.

“Tomorrow on #WWERAW I turn this ship around,” he wrote on Sunday. “But I don’t want you to change. I want you to continue to ignore the warning. I want you to continue having no faith in us. After all, ‘having no faith in us’ is what made us in the first place. #RETRIBUTION”

Retribution has yet to earn a victory on WWE Raw. Despite its mission to destroy WWE, the group was drafted to the Raw brand during the recent WWE Draft.

WWE.com has the following items listed in the weekly Raw preview:

• WWE Champion Randy Orton has a target on his back
• Jeff Hardy vs. Elias (Guitar on a Pole Match)
• The New Day vs. The Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin)
• Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke

Former WWE/TNA Superstar and multiple time World Champion Christian recently appeared on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio. Christian appeared on the show to discuss the release of the new Cagefighter movie.

Christian also discussed a number of other topics, including the RETRIBUTION stable and angle on Monday Night RAW. Captain Charisma would state that the new leader of the group, Ali, is an exciting prospect in the role.

Christian on Ali in Retribution

“I think that he’s got a lot of untapped potential” Christian began on the podcast. We haven’t really had a chance to see any layers of his personality, I don’t think. And? I think that there’s a lot there.”

Ali was recently revealed as the leader of the RETRIBUTION group. Ali would align with the group on RAW shortly before the WWE Draft. The casting of such a ‘fringe’ character on WWE programming to such a prominent role was risky; however Christian believes that WWE have the chance to develop Ali further alongside the likes of T-BAR.

• Mustafa Ali Reacts To WWE Scrapping Retribution Segment From Raw

“I’m interested to see how that unfolds and how he builds on it” Christian continued. “Now? He’s got an opportunity. That’s what you know everybody needs, that opportunity to show what they can do and he’s got it now.”

Christian would finish by praising Ali further, saying that he hopes the newly ‘heel’ Ali can flourish in the role. “I’m really really interested and hoping that he can hit it out of the park on this.”

It was recently reported that WWE opted to send a RETRIBUTION member ‘back’ to NXT. Pwinsider.com reported that Mercedes Martinez had been removed from Retribution after she had been assigned the “Retaliation” name. There’s currently no confirmation on why WWE decided to take this route with Martinez.

Do you agree with Christian? Do you think that Ali will be able to get higher up the roster with RETRIBUTION? Let us know in the comments

WWE had announced a number of segments for this week’s episode of Raw and one of them included Mustafa Ali addressing the WWE Universe after being revealed as the leader of Retribution.

However, the segment never took place during the broadcast of the episode and fans were left wondering about the group as they did not make an appearance anywhere else in the show either.

Though the new stable was mentioned during the show and they were drafted to Raw as a group. They were chosen as the first picks during the third round.

Mustafa Ali apparently reacted to this change in schedule on Twitter and the Retribution leader made a tweet during the third hour of the show.

He also commented on Retribution being drafted to Raw during the draft. He tweeted a menacing message, “Why invite demise to your door?”

There is no word yet on why the company nixed the announced Retribution segments but the last time WWE unexpectedly removed mentions of the group on their programming, it was because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the company.

Now it would be interesting to see if the group returns to WWE TV next week and if the nixed segment takes place during the upcoming episode of Raw.

The Retribution storyline saw a big development during this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw when Mustafa Ali turned heel and was revealed as the leader of the group.

The former 205 Live star had a match with MVP on the show and the other members of the Hurt Business in Shelton Benjamin and WWE United States Champion Bobby Lashley were at the ringside.

Halfway through the match it looked like the Hurt Business was going to attack the high flying star but Retribution came out just in time. For a moment it seemed like Ali will join forces with MVP and others to fight the invaders.

• Also Read: Robert Roode On James Storm Possibly Joining WWE

However, the light weight star then turned heel. He joined Retribution and later instructed the members of the group to attack the Hurt Business, revealing himself as the leader of the new WWE faction.

The segment ended with Mustafa Ali standing tall in the ring with people like Mace, T-BAR, Slapjack and some other lower ranked members of the group standing behind him.

While the Retribution Leader did not make any comments on his heel turn during the show, he took on his Twitter after the broadcast and made the following tweet:

It would be interesting to see where Retribution goes from here and if any other members of the WWE roster join the group in near future.

COVID-19 hit home for members of Retribution. 

The core members of Retribution (T-BAR, Mace, Slapjack, Reckoning, and Retaliation) have reportedly tested negative for COVID-19, according to Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet. 

The original belief from Dave Meltzer during Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast was that they were kept off Sunday’s WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view because they are not currently medically cleared to compete. 

At the time, there wasn’t any word whether it was COVID-19 related. That has changed. 

Per Satin, each member has to quarantine themselves for two weeks due to precautionary reasons as they came into proximity with someone else who tested positive for COVID-19.

As of this writing, here’s no word yet on when Retribution began their two-week quarantine. They were last seen on WWE television on last Monday’s episode of RAW. 

Satin wrote, “Regarding RETRIBUTION not being cleared to compete at the moment, sources tell me all 5 members tested negative for COVID-19. However, the group’s members each have to quarantine themselves for two weeks because they came into proximity with someone who tested positive.”

It appears that they will stay off television until mid-October. It will be interesting to see how WWE plans to explain their absence or if WWE will just use other wrestlers to fill in for the normal characters. 

Roman Reigns Retains Universal Title At WWE Clash Of Champions

Former NWA commentator and outspoken pro wrestling personality Jim Cornette recently dissected the RAW Retribution storyline.

Cornette had more than a few issues with the ongoing RAW storyline. His seemingly biggest issue however, surrounded the fact that the majority of members (Mia Yim and Dijakovic specifically) were appearing on NXT television whilst the storyline was initially ongoing.

Retribution recently revealed that WWE had given them full time WWE contracts. The only issue is a large portion of WWE’s fanbase already know who the members of the group are. With WWE attempting to put NXT on the ‘same level’ as RAW and SmackDown? It wasn’t exactly a good look for the Wednesday night brand.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that both RAW and NXT are shown on the same channel, USA Network.

Jim Cornette on Retribution

“All of these people have been on national TV!” Jim Cornette began on the Drive Thru podcast. “Working for this same company, on the other channel. Recently, like concurrently while Retribution was f*cking on RAW jumping on people and doing all this sh*t.”

“These people were on NXT having nothing to do with each other and doing other sh*t under other names” Cornette continued. “It’s not like somebody came in from a different territory and they were new to you; so you hadn’t seen him or even that somebody came in from another company.”

• Update On Why Women’s Tag Title Match Didn’t Happen At Clash of Champions

Jim Cornette would finish by lambasting WWE further for the concept. “These people were literally working for the same organisation. Just on another television show. On another station. Last week. So what the f*ck?”

Do you agree with Jim Cornette? Let us know in the comments

The members of Retribution all have new names now. 3 members received new names earlier this week and the names for Mia Yim and Mercedes Martinez have now been revealed as well.

Previously, Dio Madden was renamed MACE, Shane Thorne Slapjack, and Dominic Dijakovic as T-Bar.

According to her new Twitter account, Mia Yim will now be known as Reckoning.

According to a report from PW Insider, Mercedes Martinez will be going by the name Retaliation. She does not appear to have started a fun new Twitter account yet, however.

Retribution Causing Chaos On Social Media

Retribution members seem to have been having a lot of fun on Twitter recently. T-Bar in particular has been sending out quite a few Tweets that have gained traction online.

T-Bar commented on why WWE signed Retribution to contracts recently:

T-Bar has also taken aim at Cesaro & Sheamus, collectively known as The Bar.

T-Bar and Bryan Alvarez have been debating just how many viewers watched Retribution on Monday night.

It might appear as though no one is safe from Retribution, but T-Bar let everyone know that X-Pac is safe.

Chris Jericho and T-Bar also exchanged a couple of Tweets.

T-Bar also expressed confusion:

• T-BAR Lashes Back At CM Punk For Mocking Slapjack

Retribution member T-BAR, formerly NXT Superstar Dominik Dijakovic, has responded to CM Punk’s recent mocking of his stablemate, Slapjack.

Punk shared a screenshot of Slapjack in his mask following the group’s unveiling on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. He accompanied it with a jab reading: “When you’re bored in catering and there’s an abundance of paper plates.”

T-BAR replied directly to Punk, calling him out for making fun of his “brother” Slapjack before labeling the former WWE Superstar a “coward.”

“[…] you are a coward like every current and former @WWE Superstar. You tease leading RETRIBUTION but we will not follow you to failure like your New Nexus. We will destroy this place piece by piece, including you if you ever show up.”

The Retribution member later uploaded another tweet, detailing that his name is actually an acronym. According to him, T-BAR stands for Terrorize, Brutalize, Annihilation and Retribution.

Retribution has been making its presence known on WWE programming in recent weeks. Its key members finally unhooded themselves this past Monday only to reveal they all wore masks.

Slapjack wasn’t the only member that had members of the WWE Universe poke fun at them. T-BAR was also likened to a knockoff version of Bane from the 2012 Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.

One week after the identities of the core members of the Retribution group were reported, WWE basically confirmed the main stars. 

It happened with the opening segment of Monday’s episode of RAW on the USA Network when they jumped the barricade and got into the ring. Before that during the intro of the show, it was messed up with various graphics. 

They hit the ring and announced that they signed contracts to wrestle in WWE. Mia Yim grabbed the microphone and cut a promo before Dominik Dijakovic, who was sporting a new Bane-inspired look, took over.

Because of their masks, Dio Maddin and Mercedes Martinez were also clearly seen in the group as well, but one other individual remained unknown. 

This led to the Hurt Business (MVP, Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and Cedric Alexander) coming out and challenged the group to a fight. 

This led to more members of Retribution showing up where they surrounded the group in the ring before beating down the rival faction. Dijakovic and Dio hit a double chokeslam on Lashley before the show went to commercial. 

The word making the rounds in WWE over the weekend was that Retribution vs. a WWE team is being targeted as the main event of Survivor Series.

Retribution has been wreaking havoc on WWE televisions for several weeks now.

After various theories among fans about who could be in the group, WWE’s internal roster has confirmed the five members of the stable.

On Monday evening, John Pollock of Post Wrestling reported Dio Maddin, Mia Yim, Shane Thorne, Mercedes Martinez, and Dominik Dijakovic are in WWE’s internal roster. Dave Meltzer has confirmed this report.

All of the stars mentioned above have been appearing in promos in the last couple of weeks on Monday Night RAW. Martinez and Dijakovic have been used in speaking roles. 

On Monday’s episode of RAW, the group did a promo where they talked about the machine and how everyone is bad for liking the machine. They ended the promo with a number of extras appearing by wearing the same apparel as the group. 

In recent weeks on NXT television, Yim and Martinez have both been used as Martinez lost a steel cage match to Rhea Ripley on last week’s show.

This ended her storyline with the Robert Stone brand as Stone had been her manager. WWE did a storyline where he filed a restraining order against her, which ended up cutting ties with Martinez.

• Retribution To Be Exclusive To RAW (Report)

The Retribution faction that has been terrorizing episodes of RAW and Smackdown as of late will apparently only be doing that to the RAW brand now. According to a report from John Pollock of POST Wrestling, a source has confirmed to him that the angle will now be exclusive to RAW.

“One source noted to us that Retribution is expected to only appear on Raw moving forward,” wrote Pollock.

The faction appeared on WWE RAW last night. They attacked during the Street Profits vs Andrade and Angel Garza match. Garza took off along with his date from the Bachelor to avoid the attack but would run into the group backstage later in the show. During this attack, Garza left Demi Burnett on her own as well.

Who Is In Retribution?

There has been a lot of online speculation about who the members of Retribution are. The talent currently taking part in the angle may not be the finalized group, however.

Dominik Dijakovic, Chelsea Green, Vanessa Borne, Dio Madden, and Mia Yim’s names have all been speculated on as possible members of the group. Kayden Carter possibly as well.

• WWE RAW Results (8/31): Randy Orton Earns Title Match, RETRIBUTION Attacks

Santana Garrett and Jessi Kamea are also possible members:

Did Kayden Carter’s shoes give her away?

Kacy Catanzaro also a possible member:

Former WWE writer and polarising figure Vince Russo recently commented on the WWE ‘Retribution’ angle.

The Retribution have been making their presence felt on WWE programming over the past few weeks. The group have been invading RAW, SmackDown and PPV events and their actual intentions and identities are at this point unknown.

Vince Russo on Retribution

“Bro, this takeover is freaking comical” Vince Russo began on The Brand’s 8 Days a Week; describing how he feels about the way Retribution have gone about their business in WWE. “You made everybody on your roster look like a bunch of effing idiots, bro. There’s a match going on in the ring. So the entire locker room comes out to the ring to make sure that the Retribution don’t attack the ring.”

“Meanwhile, the ‘new kids on the block’ have beaten up someone in the back right?” Russo would continue. “So they [creative] wrote that a referee comes out and gives the talent in the ring the heads up. They’re now out of here and they’re in the back, they’re in their back, bro I swear to God, like the Keystone cops.”

• WWE SmackDown Results (8/28): Roman Reigns & Paul Heyman, Sami Zayn Returns

Vince Russo would then lay the blame solely on SmackDown Executive Director Bruce Prichard. Bruce Prichard himself of course has a long running podcast himself (Something To Wrestle With) and he has taken the opportunity to ridicule Russo’s creative on more than one occasion. “All the talent are running back and I’m like are you effing, like what am i watching here Bruce!?” Russo would finish. “What is wrong with you? And you want to sit there on your show and bury me? Are you kidding!?”

Right now there’s no definitive confirmation on how the Retribution angle will play out. On this week’s episode of SmackDown, Roman Reigns was seen backstage with Paul Heyman, who appeared to be his new ‘advocate.’ There have previously been rumblings of Reigns being behind the Retribution group, as he only just recently returned to television at SummerSlam.

So perhaps WWE has a masterplan for the group after all?

Do you agree with Vince Russo? Have Retribution been booked poorly? Let us know in the comments

It appears that there will be some type of angle involving the Retribution group. 

The angle may involve the group crashing what WWE has planned at this Sunday’s Payback pay-per-view.

Although none of the members in the group have been revealed, NXT star Dominik Dijakovic is someone who is widely believed to be one of the main members of the group. On Friday, he sent out a cryptic tweet although he later deleted it. 

The tweet contained the following numbers: 192114040125. By translating it, it reads “Sunday,” which happens to be when WWE Payback is scheduled to take place. 

With how many cryptic tweets he sends out, it’s all but confirmed that Dijakovic is part of the group. He was also one of the names from NXT that was supposed to be moved up to the main roster, but it never happened. 

He was also part of the group this week on Monday Night RAW to do an angle to close out the show as they attacked Rey and Dominik Mysterio, who were working a tag team match against Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy, which ended in a no contest. 

• WWE Files For A Dozen New Trademarks Including RETRIBUTION

WWE has filed for a dozen new trademarks in the past week, which includes trademarks for some factions and the names of various superstars.

The most interesting one of these trademarks is for the name Retribution for goods and service, specifically for being used as a name for wrestling character, which the company filed on August 4.

Retribution is the new faction which debuted on the August 3 episode of Raw and they have since made their presence felt during the following episode of SmackDown as well.

Other trademarks filed on the same day include Mustance Mountain, Karrion Kross, James Drake, Jake Atlas, Indi Hartwell, and Kacy Catanzaro which are similar in nature to the Retribution trademark.’

Though this is not all as the company filed an application for additional trademarks the next day on August 5, including Gallus, Indus Sher, Grizzled Young Veterans, Legado del Fantasma and Imperium.

• Also Read: AJ Styles Wants To Face WWE Hall Of Famer

These trademark applications suggest that the company has big plans for the Retribution in future and we can expect to see a lot more of the new faction in coming times.

It would also be interesting to see how the promotion utilises the other trademarks and if filings such as the one for Imperium could mean that we might start seeing them on the main roster sooner rather than later.

As expected, a new faction has made its debut on WWE television and its RETRIBUTION.

On Friday’s SmackDown, their presence was first felt during a backstage pull-apart between Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville by turning out the lights.

The group appeared by taking the ring with various weapons before running off the camera crew then attacking some WWE developmental talent in the crowd.

They also spray-painted things and took a chainsaw to the ring ropes. It happened at the end of the broadcast.

WWE’s official website had teased earlier on Monday that there were “rumblings” around the Performance Center that the group was set to “cause chaos” and “shake up the organizations structure.”

During Monday’s broadcast on the USA Network, we saw a group of people wearing hoodies outside throwing what appears to be a Molotov cocktail at a generator. 

It was first reported by Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet that the group is not intended to be political but rather specific to WWE. At the time, there was no word on who would’ve been part of the group as those involved in the faction are being kept close to the vest by upper management.

• Latest On Plans For This Year’s WWE Draft

This week’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw saw the debut of a number of new things including concepts like Raw Underground and the arrival of a new mysterious faction as well.

While the new faction didn’t get a lot of screen time, it did became a talking point among the fans and now the company has officially revealed the name of the new group.

WWE announced on their website that the group responsible for the technical glitches on the broadcast of the show is calling themselves ‘RETRIBUTION.’

Previous reports have revealed that the storyline is specific to WWE and it’s not intended to coincide with the current happenings in the country.

The group is apparently aiming to change the way the company operates. They are trying to ‘loosen control’ over the WWE superstar and they will do anything that’s necessary to get the management’s attention.

• Eric Young Says That Triple H Did Not Know About His WWE Release

Though at the moment we don’t know much about the members of the group. It’s said that the company officials are keeping the names a secret and they intend to take their time in revealing the faction members.

What did you think about the new WWE faction and the idea that’s being presented through it? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.