Jay's Ways - Are Retribution Done? Submitted by Justin Watry on 12/01/2020 at 10:43 AM
WWE Raw gave us many memorable moments.
There was a ridiculous Jeff Hardy Swanton Bomb added to his career highlight reel. There was yet another Lana miracle win, this time over Shayna Baszler. AJ Styles was named the number one contender to Drew McIntyre's WWE Championship at the upcoming TLC pay-per-view by defeating Keith Lee and Riddle. The Miz and John Morrison had another 'hilarious' outing as two goofballs. Sheamus continued to prove his worth as a friend to "The Stud" Drew McIntyre. There was an entertaining Moment Of Bliss segment with Randy Orton, Alexa Bliss, and The Fiend Bray Wyatt. Like I said, pretty eventful. Oh, and one more thing...
Retribution lost a match.
Again.
This time, it was Reckoning being pinned by Dana Brooke in less than three minutes.
For those unaware, let me set the stage for you: Reckoning is the former Mia Yim. Super talented wrestler that has been all over the globe and was coming off a good run in NXT. Finally earning her big break, moving to the main roster of WWE RAW! Except, it wasn't as Mia Yim. She was now "Reckoning" as a part of the supposed dangerous and so called band of misfits known as RETRIBUTION. On the other side was Dana Brooke. A perennial underdog who has done way more losing in her career than winning. Way more.
She beat Reckoning. Remember, this big bad group of Retribution has already collected its fair share of losses.
Let's just ignore the campy, hokey looking outfits. That is kinda whatever to me. It can be fixed or at least explained away by all of them being nuts. I get that.
The losses? Wanting to be feared or respected or ANYTHING? Yeah, you can't do that. Not in professional wrestling. Not in 2020. It doesn't add up.
Originally, I was going to bash WWE in this column and completely write off Retribution. Call it a bust like Raw Underground and hope everybody just moves on. For instance, Reckoning goes back to Mia Yim, and she can at least have a somewhat relevant career on RAW. Seriously, fans will forgive the company if all of this is just tossed out the window next Monday as if nothing ever happened. What's the point? It can't be salvaged anymore.
I was all ready to do that.
Then the post-match segment took place. As Reckoning looked shocked in the ring (with her creepy face gear already knocked off in the opening seconds of the match), Retribution leader Alit got in the ring and berated her! Something like "There is no failure in Retribution. Hear me?" Not an exact quote...but you get the point. This, I liked. It showed that WWE was at least aware of all the losses piling up. It showed that the stable was not just a bunch of shmucks who lost every week without a care in the world. It showed us Ali was passionate and not above talking down to one of his own. It showed there may be something to all of these questionable defeats.
