"We suffered" - Top name details why popular WWE faction failed under Vince McMahon's regime
Vince McMahon's WWE regime had many failed projects in the past few decades. Recently, Mustafa Ali detailed why Retribution failed and how a backstage power struggle affected the faction.
Retribution was one of the most disastrous factions in the Stamford-based promotion under Vince McMahon's regime. The group lasted around a year and made no significant impact as a unit before they disbanded on Monday Night RAW.
In an interview on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, the 38-year-old explained why Retribution failed as a faction on WWE's main roster. Moreover, he stated a power struggle backstage that directly affected the group, and McMahon lost interest in making the stable a legitimate threat in the promotion.
"Retribution failed because there wasn't a why. Vince lost interest in it. Not my story to tell; there was a power struggle between people, and Retribution was affected because of that. It wasn't anything directly involved with me. So, it's not my story to tell. We suffered because of that, and I think at the end of the day, if there was a why and there was some effort behind it to make it a legitimate threat, it would've been great," Ali said. (From 01:18:10 to 01:18:38)
Check out the video below:
Mustafa Ali addresses potential return to WWE
Mustafa Ali spent around five years in the Stamford-based promotion before he was released under the new regime. The 38-year-old star had a ground-breaking year following his release but hasn't completely closed the door on a potential return to WWE.
In the same interview, the former TNA X-Division Champion explained he's open to a return, and there's more than one way to do so with TNA's collaboration with NXT and RAW's move to Netflix in January 2025:
“I think there’s multiple paths, yeah. And the thing is there’s good relations there. The thing with them moving to Netflix is very, very interesting, because it just opens things. I don’t know how much the show is going to do. The show is going to change, as far as dynamic, as far as rating, as far as what they’re okay with," Ali said. [H/T: CVV]
It'll be interesting to see if the former star ever makes an appearance for the Stamford-based promotion in the future.
If you use quotes from the article, please credit Chris Van Vliet and provide an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
