Dijak Says Current WWE Raw Star Was Reportedly Pitched As Retribution's Original Leader

Donovan Dijak had a notable run on "WWE NXT," but he did have the opportunity to compete on the main roster during the pandemic era under the name T-Bar, where he was part of the ill-fated Retribution stable led by Mustafa Ali. However, Dijak has now revealed that a current "Raw" star — and member of The Judgment Day faction — was reportedly pitched as the group's original boss.

"I heard a rumor that before that it was supposed to be Finn Balor but he was doing something, I think the timing was off because he was slated to go down to NXT to become the NXT champion," he told "Tru Heel Heat Wrestling." "I pitched like Vince himself, I pitched Shane McMahon. We had like a list at one point because basically I was just listing like the most important people I could think of because I wanted Vince to like love this story... They went with Ali and frankly, I doubt he wanted to do it."

Dijak also went into detail about pitching for the leader to be whoever the WWE Champion was on the day they debuted. This was because he wanted the group to feel important as quickly as possible, and having the World Champion represent them could help Retribution achieve that. Unfortunately, the group was poorly received by the fans and disbanded without making much of an impact on the main roster.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Tru Heel Heat Wrestling" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.