Update On Retribution’s Lineup Change

Well that was fast. Monday night Raw has been having some issues in recent months in the form of a new group called Retribution. The mostly masked team has come in, run roughshod on the roster, and now have been signed to the show in what might not have been the most responsible move. While there is no guarantee of knowing how many members the team really has, there are five core members. Or at least there were.

Back in September, Retribution’s five main members unmasked on Monday Night Raw, revealing five former NXT stars in the forms of Dominik Dijakovic, Shane Thorn, Dio Maddin, Mia Yim and Mercedes Martinez. The debut did not go as well as it could have gone, but the team was much more established. They have since gained an official leader in Mustafa Ali, but they still might be at five after dropping a member.

According to PWInsider.com, Mercedes Martinez has been removed from the Retribution stable and will be returning to NXT. There is no reason given for why Martinez is being removed from the team. This comes after Ali posted a tweet with images of all of the members in NXT, save for Martinez. In addition, Martinez had been given a name, going under Retaliation.

It was nice while it lasted. Check out the team with Martinez, plus a look at her on her own:

Opinion: I’m really not sure what this means for Martinez, but it’s a very strange decision to make. At the end of the day, you would think that NXT would have a better idea of what they were doing, but it is hardly the first time that they have made such a change after starting something off. Martinez was never officially introduced as a member, but fans are going to notice her being gone. Hopefully there is an explanation, or at least someone who can fill her shoes well.

How has Retribution done so far? Who should take Martinez’s place? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!