Eric Bischoff Throws Shade at WWE for How They're Booking Retribution

WWE's booking decision for its newest faction, Retribution, has left fans scratching their heads. [...]

By Connor Casey

WWE's booking decision for its newest faction, Retribution, has left fans scratching their heads. So far the masked group of hooligans have done nothing more than destroy WWE property, affect the broadcasts of Monday Night Raw, attack a couple of Performance Center trainees at ringside and interfere in a tag match on SmackDown. It's still unclear who any of the group's members are or what they want, and fans have been picking apart WWE's poor presentation of them for weeks.

Former SmackDown executive director Eric Bischoff even got in on the action, taking a not-so-subtle jab at how poorly WWE handled a previous invasion angle.

The most glaring example came back in 2001 after WWE purchased both ECW and WCW. The company had wrestlers from both defunct companies try to invade the promotion as The Alliance, but the program was dropped after that year's Survivor Series pay-per-view. To this day it is still seen as one of the biggest missed opportunities in WWE history.

Retribution's latest attack took place on this week's Raw, where the group stormed into the production truck and forced the show to go to commercial. They did not appear for the rest of the show. It's unclear if WWE will continue with this program now that Raw, SmackDown and the next few pay-per-views are all moving to the Amway Center in downtown Orlando.

WWE announced on Monday that live fans would be returning to the shows virtually via massive LED screens, known as the WWE ThunderDome.

"WWE ThunderDome™, featuring a state-of-the-art set, video boards, pyrotechnics, lasers, cutting-edge graphics and drone cameras, will take WWE fans' viewing experience to an unprecedented level starting this Friday, August 21 on FOX, kicking off SummerSlam® Weekend," WWE's press release on the ThunderDome's announcement read.

"WWE has a long history of producing the greatest live spectacles in sports and entertainment, yet nothing compares to what we are creating with WWE ThunderDome," Kevin Dunn, WWE Executive Vice President, Television Production, said in the release. "This structure will enable us to deliver an immersive atmosphere and generate more excitement amongst the millions of fans watching our programming around the world."

Along with the press release, WWE released its full schedule for its 60-day residency inside the Amway Center.

  • Friday, August 21 – Friday Night SmackDown®, Amway Center, 8 pm ET on FOX
  • Saturday, August 22 – NXT TakeOver® XXX, Full Sail Live, 7 pm ET on WWE Network
  • Sunday, August 23 – SummerSlam, Amway Center, 7 pm ET on WWE Network
  • Monday, August 24 – Monday Night Raw®, Amway Center, 8 pm ET on USA Network
  • Wednesday, August 26 – NXT®, Full Sail Live, 8 pm ET on USA Network
  • Friday, August 28 – Friday Night SmackDown, Amway Center, 8 pm ET on FOX
  • Sunday, August 30 – Payback®, Amway Center, 7 pm ET on WWE Network
  • Monday, August 31 – Monday Night Raw, Amway Center, 8 pm ET on USA Network

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