WWE Fans Aren’t Sold on NXT Supergroup’s Debut with Retribution Comparisons

After several cryptic teases in the past few weeks, it was finally time for the mysterious WWE NXT supergroup to make their debut at NXT Vengeance Day. The group would cut the lights and then emerge from the crowd to take out FraXiom and then they would show back up later in the night and take out Oba Femi. It was certainly treated as a big debut, but WWE fans seem to be very split on how it was executed, and more fans are also not sold on the group overall, making comparisons to Retribution and The Shield.

The group still doesn’t have a name, but they are made up of Cutler James, Dion Lennox, Saquon Shugars, and Osiris Griffin. They are still wearing masks but you were able to see their faces at times, and they are pulling quite a bit from the Retribution playbook with the cutting of the lights, masks, ambush attacks, and mysterious identities.

Some are cautiously optimistic, like @TruecrimeP, who wrote, “Retribution 2.0?! Hopefully not!!!” @Brock900_ was less optimistic about the group, writing, “Looks a lot like Retribution. LOL Which one is Slapjack, T-Bar, Mace, and Reckoning?”

@YoConnorr wasn’t sold either, writing “bootleg retribution”, while @Jaydenx00 compared them to another famous group, writing “Fake shield in 2025 is insane gang 😭” @iTzVega wrote, “Boys think they are the Shield 2.0 but they are in fact Retribution 2.0”, and @Dee_Banks589 wrote, “Retribution 2.0 because no way you could be trying to do the Shield…. I like this it’s fine but yeah”.

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@reignsandmox isn’t high on the chances of it ultimately working, writing “This is ridiculous and it’s never gonna work just like the last one. Didn’t and the one before that didn’t”, and @MrTDW_ delivered another jab at the Shield comparison, writing “When you order the shield off temu 🤣”.

Retribution was a short lived group that was supposed to turn WWE on its head, taking over Monday Night Raw and causing issues for several weeks. It was then revealed that Mustafa Ali was the group’s leader, but that wasn’t allowed to get off the ground either. Since then everyone involved in that storyline are either gone from WWE or repackaged, so you can understand why those comparisons might frighten some.

What did you think of the new group’s debut, and what does WWE need to do with them to make this new group successful? Let us know in the comments and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!