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WWE finally took a big step in the RETRIBUTION angle on RAW by unveiling the names of three members and unmasking the entire group.
While the five core members still had masks on, four of them were easily recognizable. Mia Yim, Dio Maddin, Dominik Dijakovic, Mercedes Martinez and Shane Thorne were confirmed to be the five members of RETRIBUTION following the changes in their official social media handles.
T-Bar (Dijakovic), Mace (Maddin) and Slapjack (Thorne) got the fans talking for the sheer ridiculousness of their new names. The fact that the members of RETRIBUTION, who have been vandalizing WWE property for the past few weeks, were signed to official WWE contracts was a also a very odd booking decision.
Backstage reaction to WWE's presentation of RETRIBUTION on RAW
Nonetheless, the fans aren't the only people who are perplexed by how WWE presented RETRIBUTION on RAW. A new report from Fightful Select revealed several details regarding the backstage reaction of the WWE locker room.
Fightful spoke to four WWE talents about the sentiments and opinions 'that were uncorked' on RETRIBUTION and the WWE creative process.
An unnamed female Superstar from RAW said that she felt bad for Mia Yim and Mercedes Martinez. While she admitted that it was a good spot for Yim and Martinez, it was still a massive battle for the duo to try and make the angle look less dumb than it is. Yim and Martinez had worked really hard to warrant an opportunity at the top, and the RETRIBUTION angle wasn't what they might have expected.
Over at SmackDown, a talent was reportedly curious about how the Blue brand has been 'largely untouched' by the sudden creative changes that have been specifically made to RAW. The talent felt that WWE loaded up RAW as it's a longer show; however, talent from SmackDown weren't provided with a reason behind RETRIBUTION being moved exclusively to the Red brand.
The wrestlers Fightful spoke to said that they hadn't heard of WWE having any long-term plans for RETRIBUTION from the beginning. Most of the angles were said to be 'hastily put together', and that's based on the perspective backstage.
The consensus is that 'absolutely everyone' behind the scenes that Figjhtful spoke to found the new names ridiculous.
A top WWE Superstar, whose name wasn't revealed, said that the names sounded straight out of a bad game or movie. The wrestler said that he wasn't even sure whether Vince McMahon watches movies or plays games anymore.
What are your honest opinions about RETRIBUTION? Do you see the faction making this a successful angle?
