10 Worst Sacrifices In WWE

9. Ali Can't Save Or Solve The Retribution Problem...

Hulk Hogan Yokozuna
WWE

...or "problems", considering how littered with flaws the stable was from the moment it first appeared on Monday Night Raw.

When Mustafa Ali was revealed as the leader of Retribution, it offered him a lifeline away from the lame gaggle of midcard losers that populated some of the three-hour show's squash match rotation. Honestly, the indictment on the company here can't be overstated either - the likes of Ricochet, Drew Gulak et al would be proverbial first drafts if you were starting your own promotion.

Ali was amongst them, and thus fairly p*ssed off with his lot, so said the lore of the stable. And indeed Ali himself, after claiming responsibility for being the SmackDown hacker earlier in the year in a desperate attempt to tie a couple of frayed ends together.

Though no babyface momentum was sacrificed with this turn (he simply had none to lose), his credibility was left in tatters by how good his Twitter attempts were to clean up an on-screen mess. Awesome monologues shouldn't make you want to tell a gimmick to f*ck off, but Mustafa Ali was telling his own stories to cover for putrid ones on television.

In this post: 
Hulk Hogan
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett