Mustafa Ali Stands By The Concept Of Retribution, Says 'The Whys' Never Made WWE TV

Retribution burst onto the WWE scene in 2020, featuring a group of masked individuals who seemed to want to take the promotion down from the inside. It would eventually be revealed that the group was led by Mustafa Ali, but less than a year after their introduction, the group disappeared from TV. Speaking to "Sportskeeda WrestleBinge," Ali gave his thoughts on what prevented Retribution from reaching its full potential.

"Retribution — the fatal thing about it [is] it never had a 'why,'" Ali said. "I didn't come up with the concept of Retribution, I didn't come up with the names or the masks. I was just kind of given the thing. But at the end of the day, it was an opportunity, so I was rolling up my sleeves, stepping up ready to swing. I [was] like, 'I'm going to hit a home run out of this.'" Ali revealed that he had come up with reasons for the group's individual names as well as their masks, and an entire backstory for Retribution. However, none of it was ever used.

"I had answered the 'whys,' but the problem is the 'whys' never made it to TV," Ali continued. The WWE star shared his belief that the group "fell through the cracks" because the people who came up with the story didn't have their own reasoning as to why any of it was happening.

This past Monday on "WWE Raw," Ali won a battle royale, making him the next challenger for the Intercontinental Championship held by GUNTHER. Their match will take place at Night of Champions next week, broadcasting live from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.