Although the performers were considered talented, their booking, attires, ring names and personas were all universally panned, being referred to as "hideous" and "hastily thrown together."

On the August 3, 2020, episode of Raw, lights in the WWE Performance Center began flickering on and off and a masked group of vigilante-hood esque gimmick set fire to a generator.

That same night, T-Bar, Mace, and Slapjack made their in-ring debut against The Hurt Business (Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and Cedric Alexander) in the main event, losing by disqualification.

[5][6][7] On the October 5 episode of Raw, Mustafa Ali was revealed as the leader of the stable as he ordered them to attack The Hurt Business during his match with MVP.

[9][10] On the October 19 episode of Raw, Retribution lost a 4 vs 4 tag team match to the Hurt Business after T-Bar submitted to Lashley's Full Nelson.

[16] On the November 26th edition of Main Event, Retribution appeared as a guest on Miz TV explaining their motives and attacked The Gobbledy Gooker.

[17][18][19] Following this, Retribution began feuding with The New Day with Ali targeting Kofi Kingston for taking his spot in the Elimination Chamber which led to KofiMania.

[20][21] The team disbanded at the Fastlane Kickoff Show, where Reckoning and Slapjack walked out on Ali, then T-Bar and Mace double chokeslammed him after he lost a match for the United States Championship to Riddle.

[29] Pro Wrestling Torch journalist Zack Heydorn felt the group did not deliver on WWE's preceding hype, saying "Nothing about Retribution's current presentation screams danger, fear, or evil.

Kevin Berge of Bleacher Report commented on the group's "awful" identity reveal: "Retribution took charge of the September 21 edition of Monday Night Raw.

"[33] PWTorch reporter Frank Peteani called Retribution a "hideous angle on many levels", and suggested that the stable's fan interaction on social media may be an effort to mitigate the negative audience response.

[34] Dave LaGreca, host of Sirius XM's Busted Open, found WWE's awarding contracts to the outlaw group to be nonsensical.

[35] In October, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful noted that the group had faced unfavorable comparisons to The Dark Order of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and called it "a hastily thrown together project after Vince McMahon was repeatedly questioned about declining viewership, lack of creative direction and an absence of new stars."

[40][35] Then-retired wrestler CM Punk joked that the mask worn by Slapjack was a consequence of his being "bored in catering" near "an abundance of paper plates".

"[42] Fightful reported that they had discussed the stable with several WWE talents: the members' ring names were unanimously criticized, with one wrestler likening them to "something out of a bad movie or [video] game".

[29] Following Martinez (Retaliation)'s sudden removal from the group, retired wrestler Lance Storm called her a "survivor", and suggested she would be "breathing a sigh of relief".

[43] Former WWE creative writer Vince Russo was critical of Retribution "for looking like a bunch of kids running around the neighborhood causing hi-jinks like Dennis The Menace".