15 Wrestlers WWE Debuted In The WORST Way Possible
7. Retribution Change Literally Nothing
Debut: Mid-COVID pandemic and locked at home, the general public faced an uncertain and frankly scary future. WWE had retreated into their own Performance Center for programming due to the lack of live crowds, and many folks were grateful they still had some wrestling to watch. Then, on the 3 August 2020 Raw, a group of hooded thugs set fire to a generator as company announcers wondered aloud what was going on.
Retribution was born.
Why It Was Bad: Days later, Retribution beat up some officials and wrestlers on SmackDown, then cut the ring ropes with a chainsaw. Eventually, members explained that they were sick of being overlooked on NXT and wanted WWE contracts. One problem. They already had contracts. That was why they were in NXT and on WWE television to begin with.
What a logic gap.
It wasn't long until Retribution debuted some crappy masks and Streets Of Rage-esque names ("Slapjack", "T-BAR" etc), but the truth is that they were fizzling out before that happened. Burning a generator on Raw had created some buzz, but it ultimately didn't achieve anything. Neither did cutting the ring ropes with a chainsaw.
Retribution's debut summed the faction up. They were performative more than truly threatening, and they never actually affected any of the change they dribbled about during promos. Once again (spotting a pattern?), WWE's creative team lost passion for the project and watered it down into one of the weakest storylines of 2020.
You won't find Retribution on any 'best WWE debuts ever' lists, let's be honest. They were dreadful from the start.