Former WWE star Donovan Dijak has expressed his belief that RETRIBUTION would have probably been more successful on WWE television had there been a live audience present.
During the debut of RETRIBUTION in mid-2020, WWE was staging events devoid of live spectators due to COVID-19 safety protocols.
Dijak was asked on the most recent episode of the “Insight” podcast if RETRIBUTION would have achieved a greater impact had there been a live audience present. He responded,
“That’s an excellent question. I believe we would have performed better with a live audience, as there would be more interaction and higher production. It would have been evident that we were the villains trying to provoke the audience, rather than just being perceived as insane individuals simply shouting. Our attempt to conquer these screens didn’t seem convincing.
The wrestling company decided to separate me from Mace and pair us as a tag team without masks. The response from the audience was positive, even though I was still called T-Bar and he was still named Mace. We actually proposed to change these names to disassociate from our previous affiliations.
Despite receiving a good response from the crowd, we still shared the same music and our tag team didn’t align with Vince’s preferences, so eventually, we were separated.”
By the time live in-person fans made a comeback in July 2021, RETRIBUTION had already disbanded and broken ties with their leader Mustafa Ali.
Recently, Dijak announced his departure from WWE, stating that the company was unresponsive over new contract talks.