Mustafa Ali Channels Hoobastank, Finds A Reason To Celebrate The Legacy Of Retribution

Mustafa Ali may not be a perfect person and RETRIBUTION is one thing he wishes he didn’t do, but he continues learning.

Mustafa Ali may not be a perfect person and RETRIBUTION is one thing he wishes he didn’t do. But he continues learning, and so he has to say before he goes, he just wants us to know it’s the anniversary of the demise of RETRIBUTION

RETRIBUTION debuted on WWE Raw in August 2020; the group initially consisted of hooded individuals who caused chaos on Raw and SmackDown by destroying property and attacking superstars. They later unmasked to reveal themselves as Mace (Dio Maddin), Slapjack (Shane Thorne), Reckoning (Mia Yim), Retaliation (Mercedes Martinez), and T-Bar (Dominik Dijakovic).

Retaliation quickly left the group, but it quickly gained another member. While Mustafa Ali struggled to make a name for himself, he was crawling in the dark and looking for an answer when he decided to chase the light as the mysterious hacker in WWE. He was then revealed as the leader of RETRIBUTION. The stable ultimately broke up in March 2021, and the members ultimately went their separate ways.

In a tweet on March 20, Ali posted a love note in recognition of the anniversary of RETRIBUTION disbanding. He stated that you can’t grow in the future without coming to peace with the past, and rather than focusing on being mad about the group members’ lack of gratitude, he decided to forgive them instead. Ali then shared a parody of Hoobastank’s “The Reason” as a tribute to the stable.

“I’m not a Slapjack person. I never meant to T-Bar and Mace you. But I’ll continue Reckoning, maybe get some Retribution too. Retaliation, where’d you go? Are we ANTIFA? No. The Hacker no one can see. It was just Mustafa Ali. Shut it down til I die. Those stupid names made me cry,” Ali sang.

The song can be seen below.

you can’t grow in the future until you come to peace with the past!

tomorrow is the anniversary of retribution disbanding. instead of being mad about how the members were ungrateful, I have decided to forgive them. here is my love note to retribution
— @AnthonyCairo pic.twitter.com/tmP7rwxXxD

— Mustafa Ali / Adeel Alam (@AliWWE) March 20, 2023

Ali continues to compete on WWE Raw, and while Yim was released in November 2021, she returned to the company in November 2022. Mace was later repackaged as a member of Maximum Male Models. Dijakovic returned to NXT and his previous persona in November 2022. Thorne was released in November 2021, and he currently competes for NJPW and other companies.

Haste previously discussed his time in RETRIBUTION. Check out his comments here.