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Until late into this week's WWE RAW broadcast, RETRIBUTION was just another group of outlaws being given the spotlight, at this time, to ease their transition to WWE RAW and/or SmackDown based on the outcome of the upcoming WWE draft. And then, lo and behold, the biggest headline to come out of WWE RAW, all of a sudden, was that Mustafa Ali had been stringing us all along, that he was, in fact, their venerated leader.
RETRIBUTION could follow in the tradition of the nWo faction or even The Hurt Business, for that matter, recruiting new members into their fold. These men and women could be those on the fringes of WWE RAW and SmackDown, brimming with talent and skill, but cast into the shadows to make way for others.
These WWE RAW and SmackDown superstars have cause to seek RETRIBUTION, both the noun and the verb, against the corporate machinery known as WWE.
#5 WWE RAW star Ricochet
Once upon a time, he was at par with Brock Lesnar in terms of his position on the card, and today, Ricochet is part of a collective on WWE RAW feuding with The Hurt Business for weeks on end. When he teased joining The Hurt Business on WWE RAW this week, it did seem for a moment that it would be a level up from where he currently is and judging from online reactions, not everyone was displeased with the said development. It was, all said and done, a ruse, and one has to wonder if Ricochet came out of the whole exercise any better than he went in.
Imagine the tandem Ali and Ricochet could be as a heel unit, with hired muscle behind them on WWE RAW or SmackDown, based on the upcoming WWE draft.
#4 SmackDown star Shorty G
Even though SmackDown star King Corbin has done complete justice to the 'King of the Ring' character, acting like a pompous and cocky heel at every given opportunity, many had said during the tournament that it was Shorty G that needed to win the whole thing a lot more, because, without it, he is just another sports entertainer. And fast forward a year from the picture that Shorty G has put up, the man is taking the pin on SmackDown, putting Sheamus over so that he looks strong against Big E, during his big upcoming bout.
Irrespective of whether Shorty G lands up on RAW or SmackDown, he is not going to be cast in the Roman Reigns or Seth Rollins role overnight, and so it makes a lot of sense for him to become a part of RETRIBUTION. How dare others, performers from RAW and SmackDown that do not have his Olympian credentials jump ahead in line, when he can work circles around them, in almost any kind of match situation?
#3 WWE RAW star Erik
As long as Ivar does not return to the mix from injury, Erik will only be cast in cameos on RAW Underground, or in unimportant matches in the WWE RAW brand (or SmackDown, depending on where he eventually ends up). Having him become a part of RETRIBUTION would lend a degree of credibility to the former WWE RAW Tag Team Champion and with all due respect to him, allow him to break out of the stifling and myopic 'Viking' gimmick, that has honestly created a ceiling for the talented man.
Erik certainly looks the part and could be a formidable ally to T-Bar, Mace, Slapjack, and the rest of the faction, lending his services to the collective to wreak chaos and havoc on WWE RAW, until they run into a roadblock in the form of The Hurt Business or the Samoan faction, that Roman Reigns is supposedly putting together over the coming weeks. For him to be forgotten after his partner was injured is cause enough for him to seek RETRIBUTION.
#2 WWE RAW star Andrade
With Andrade and Zelina Vega going their separate ways on WWE RAW, the young man does not have a mouthpiece anymore and while he may be a wizard between the ropes, he certainly isn't one on the microphone when it comes to cutting promos in the English language. Moreover, there's only so far that a performer on WWE RAW or SmackDown can go without a gimmick and the perfect example of this is Mustafa Ali, who was always exceptional when the bell rang. But now, he has been elevated to one of WWE RAW's most important performers as a member of the RETRIBUTION heel faction.
Andrade could be the workhorse of RETRIBUTION alongside Mustafa Ali, both familiar faces, and the two of them could team up to go for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships in due course of time too.
It just seems like without a strong storyline, Andrade is just one of those performers who will slip down the ranks on whichever brand he is on, be it WWE RAW or SmackDown.
#1 WWE RAW star Kevin Owens (following his brush with The Fiend)
Ordinarily, the thought of Kevin Owens joining a faction such as RETRIBUTION would be a very strange development and would, as a consequence, be cast aside, but following what happened to the WWE RAW star when he made an appearance on SmackDown, it is certainly a real possibility. Kevin Owens came into contact with The Fiend, Bray Wyatt's alter ego, and he also appeared on WWE RAW to inform us that he did undergo a certain change thereafter.
With all due respect to Mustafa Ali, who is a fantastic promo and one of the more underrated performers on the WWE RAW brand, just having someone like Kevin Owens as the face of RETRIBUTION would elevate the faction to the next level, considering everything that he has achieved in WWE. And because he has been out of the mix for so very long, when he could very well be the face of WWE RAW or SmackDown, Kevin Owens may have cause for, well, retribution.
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