Towards the tail end of the Summer of 2020, a group of masked men and women started running roughshod all over both Smackdown and Raw. Everyone would come to know them as Retribution and they’re seemingly being led by Mustafa Ali. Despite the head-scratching names, the group has also been revealed to be Dio Maddin, Mia Yim, Shane Thorne, Mercedes Martinez, and Dominick Dijakovic.
It wasn’t the first time mystery assailants have run amok in wrestling and it won’t be the last. Pulling back the curtain on a mystery attacker has always been a bit of Scooby Doo moment. So, let’s hop into our Mystery Machine and reveal 10 mystery attackers.
10 Shawn Michaels / Triple H
Triple H really is The Cerebral Assassin who does what’s best for business. In 2002, he made sure that he turned his back on Shawn Michaels instead of reforming DX. Shortly after, HBK was accosted and his head was put through a windshield. Security footage would reveal that Triple H was behind that attack as well, leading to not just an Unsanctioned Match between the two at SummerSlam, but HBK’s full-blown return to the ring. Had Triple H not tried to eviscerate his old friend, fans would have never gotten the second run of The Heartbreak Kid.
9 Stone Cold Steve Austin / Rikishi
No matter how much Roman Reigns might think he’s the head of the tribe, all of the fans know that The Rock is the true Tribal Chief. Even Rikishi knew that way back when he ran Stone Cold down with a car the night of Survivor Series 1999.
In reality, Austin needed to get the neck surgery he should have probably had after getting dropped on his neck at SummerSlam 1997. When Austin finally returned to hunt down the person who ran him over, it was revealed that the former tag team specialist, Rikishi had been the perpetrator, doing it for The Rock and all of the Samoans who had been held down.
8 Roman Reigns / Rowan
Roman Reigns was all set to announce who he would be coming after at SummerSlam 2019 when a series of strange events had been happening to him. First, part of a lighting rig fell on him and he too was involved in a hit and run. After ruling out his then enemy, Samoa Joe and later Buddy Murphy; Daniel Bryan and his intellectual equal, Rowan began to conduct their own investigation. But it was all a grand ruse, the person who was behind everything was actually Rowan, who turned his back on Bryan, forcing him to once again become a babyface and team up with Roman against Rowan and Harper.
7 Becky Lynch / Mickie James
Before she became The Man, Becky Lynch was the first-ever SmackDown Women’s Champion. But she would eventually lose the title to Alexa Bliss, thanks to the interference of La Luchadora. During Becky and Alexa’s Steel Cage rematch, The Irish Lasskicker was again taken down by La Luchadora. Only this time she was able to put an end to The Spider Lady homage and unmask her, revealing that Mickie James was in cahoots with Little Miss Bliss.
6 Aleister Black / Johnny Gargano
The Heart and Soul of NXT must be a tiring job, one that Johnny Gargano was tired of having. After all, he was engaged in a blood feud with former friend Tommaso Ciampa and in trying to cost him the NXT Title against Aleister Black, he inadvertently handed Ciampa the title.
In the coming weeks, Black would try to hunt Gargano down, but he became the victim of a parking lot assault. The Dutch Destroyer returned several months later and found out that it was indeed Gargano who attacked him.
5 Sting / The Black Scorpion
After finally defeating Ric Flair to become the NWA Champion at the 1990 Great American Bash, The Stinger started to become haunted by a nefarious and mysterious figure from “his past,” The Black Scorpion. Announcers tried to imply that the man under the hood might even be Sting’s old teammate, The Ultimate Warrior, or even The Angel Of Death, Dave Sheldon. It all came to a head at Starrcade. After defeating the Scorpion, he was forced to reveal himself as The Nature Boy, Ric Flair.
4 Sara Calaway / DDP
Before finding married bliss with Michelle McCool, The Undertaker was once married to another blonde bombshell, Sara. On top of getting that very painful tattoo on his neck, he also got his wife Sara a role in WWE storylines. In the spring of 2001, she was being stalked by a mysterious man eventually revealed to be Diamond Dallas Page, who also revealed that he couldn’t care less about Sara, he just wanted to make a big impact and come after The Undertaker. Perhaps if Page had won a match in WWE, this might have been more impactful.
3 Enzo Amore / Big Cass
Since the earliest days of NXT and on the blacktop basketball courts of New York City, Enzo Amore and Big Cass had been as thick as thieves. They came to the main roster in 2016, but a little over a year in and the realest guys in the room hadn’t garnered anywhere near the steam they had in NXT. Then Enzo was attacked. Cass has vowed to find his little buddy’s assailant. But Corey Graves would find out quickly that the mystery attacker was Cass himself, who believed that Enzo was dead-weight and Cass was tired of carrying him around.
2 Hulk Hogan / The Butcher
God bless Ted Turner. If not for him being willing to pay for WCW and keep it afloat, fans might not have ever got the Wrestlecrap gold known as The Dungeon Of Doom or its even sillier predecessor, The Three Faces Of Fear. Kevin Sullivan was hellbent on destroying Hulkamania and had teamed up with Avalanche (the former Earthquake) to do it.
Hogan was attacked before a title defense against Ric Flair by a masked figure with a pipe. When he was finally unmasked after Halloween Havoc 1994, the assailant was revealed to be none other than Hogan’s kayfabe brother (brother?), The Butcher, aka Brutus The Barber Beefcake.
1 Various Members Of The WWE Roster / Retribution
Whether they’re a gang, a pack, a group, faction, or federation, Retribution has made an impact. They have come out week after week, dismantling broadcasting equipment and even the ring! They’ve sent announcers like Michael Cole and Corey Graves fleeing for their safety and have tried to put a hurt on The Hurt Business. Their mission has been to destroy the WWE infrastructure, which now they get to do from within, led by Mustafa Ali and signed to their own contracts. Rey and Dominik Mysterio are only two WWE Superstars who felt the wrath of Retribution.