Mustafa Ali Celebrates Retribution’s First Victory on WWE Raw

The Retribution faction has been apart of Monday Night Raw for months. And while the masked faction has committed plenty of property damage in the time, heading into this week’s episode the group had repeatedly failed to pick up a single victory inside the ring. That finally changed on Monday, as group leader Mustafa Ali was able to defeat Ricochet in an excellent singles match via the Koji Clutch submission. Ali took to social media following the show to celebrate the victory while continuing to remind Ricochet that in order to force any change he needs to join a group (ideally there’s).

“Nothing will change until you do,” Ali wrote. “Lights out, [Ricochet].”

While many fans still aren’t onboard with the Retribution gimmick, Ali has put forward a Herculean effort to try and give the faction some depth. He’s explained in promos and on social media why he recruited each member of the group, why he was the hacker on SmackDown earlier this year, why the group wants to destroy WWE and why he gave each of them masks and new names.

“I want you to imagine being judged because of your name,” Ali said in a recent Twitter promo. “I want you to imagine being mocked because of how you look. Now I want you to imagine a man named Mustafa Ali that has given names and masks to members of Retribution so that they too can know how he feels. So that they too can be judged by their names, so that they too can be mocked by how they look. They too can see the world the way he sees it. Imagine that.”

WWE’s next pay-per-view, Survivor Series, takes place on Nov. 22. Here’s the card for the show so far:

• WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
• Raw Women’s Champion Asuka vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks
• United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn
• Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits
• Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Tag Match: Team Raw (Keith Lee, AJ Styles, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, Riddle) vs. Team SmackDown (Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, King Corbin, Seth Rollins, TBD)
• Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Tag Match (Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Lana) vs. Team SmackDown (Bianca Belair, Ruby Riott, TBD)
• The Undertaker’s “Final Farewell” appearance