Ex-WWE Star Dijak Recalls How Retribution Angle Came About, Pitching To Vince McMahon
The Retribution faction could have been a dominant stable in WWE, but many fans agree that they quickly became one of the most poorly booked stars on the roster, and many simultaneously criticized the repackaging of Dijak into T-BAR. Dijak has hit out at the gimmick in the past, but during an interview on "Wrestling With Things," he recalled how the angle originally came together.
"It was never really pitched to me, it just kind of happened," said the former WWE star. Dijak recalled noticing that he and the other Retribution members were on the WWE call list at some point, and were then individually given their names. "Okay, 'Now, you're gonna reveal this, and you're gonna be T-Bar, you're going to be Mace, and you're going to be Slapjack.'"
Dijak then pieced together how they weren't given a single pitch with an outlined plan, but that the story was given to them over time. However, he claimed that he directly approached Vince McMahon to include him in the stable before the members were given identities.
"I don't remember exactly how long, but there's probably like a two-month stretch where Retribution was just people in masks — in ski masks — and stuff and all black outfits, just creating havoc and like breaking stuff and setting things on fire, and whatever."
Dijak recalled briefly believing that McMahon took his pitch to heart
Vince McMahon was the one wrestlers had to convince to get a push, and while he had many questionable booking decisions, a push from McMahon could send anyone into the stratosphere. Recalling his conversation with McMahon, Dijak noted how he even pitched his fellow Retribution teammates to join the faction alongside him.
"At the time, he watched it and he absorbed it and then he gave me like a five-minute speech on professionalism, so — which in hindsight is interesting — but yes, so I kind of thought it went in one ear and out the other."
Dijak then recalled feeling dejected and even wondered whether he should start thinking about finding another job. However, things quickly changed when he saw the aforementioned call list.
"I'm like, 'Hey, maybe he listened to me? This is great!' You know, first ever pitch to Vince McMahon and he listened and it's great, and we're off to a great start. Maybe he really does like big guys?"
Unfortunately, Dijak realized that McMahon slowly changed his original pitch.
Dijak claims Retribution were confident McMahon would continue to push them
As Dijak noticed things were deviating from his original pitch, he shared a similar opinion with fans critical of Retribution, pointing out that their presentation wasn't done well.
"We think that the audience is going to dislike it but at the end of the day, we're like, 'Whatever. This is Vince McMahon's company; he can do whatever he wants. He likes this, it's his idea, he created it, he seems invested in it, we'll just populate the character and he'll push it, and no matter what it is or how silly it is, he'll continuously push it because that's Vince's M.O., right?' He's done this before."
Sadly for Dijak and the rest of the faction, they eventually realized that McMahon went against his M.O. and instead lost interest in making stars out of Retribution. The group also had multiple "debuts" according to Dijak, and he surprisingly revealed that the faction attacking people and setting some of them alight was a hastily put together angle.
"I was told through the grapevine that the idea was like 24 hours old, and they just rushed it right onto TV."
While Retribution ultimately fell flat, former head of the faction Mustafa Ali has opined in the past that the concept of the faction is still something he believes in.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Wrestling With Things" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.