Donovan Dijak looked back on his run on the WWE main roster as T-Bar, a member of the Retribution faction, and explained why he believes the angle ultimately failed. Speaking on the Wrestling Epicenter, Dijak admitted that while some things worked well during the pandemic-era Thunderdome shows, Retribution was not one of them.
The Thunderdome Problem
“Oh, absolutely. I think a lot of things flurished during the Thunderdome era. Unfortunately, Retribution was not one of them. (laughs) I think there was a chance for Retribution but it would have been easier for us had there been a live audience to sort of get a proof of concept and be able to determine what was and was not working. In the Thunderdome, it was the opinion of one. How can you change that opinion with pre-programed screens making faces. How can you tell what the audience things? The crowd is fake! But, a lot of things did flurish in the Thunderdome.”
Volunteering For The Role
Dijak gave Vince McMahon credit for the concept and revealed that he actively volunteered to be part of the group.
“Part of me wants to give credit to Vince McMahon for that. Vince wanted a group of virtual unknowns to come in and play that role. The reality is, I wanted to play that role. I volunteered for that role. Obviously, the name T-Bar didn’t exist when I was making this pitch. All that we knew was it was an invasion angle. I was like, ‘Cool! I want to be part fo this!’ I know Vince wanted random people to populate this. I was like, ‘Cool! I’m random people!'”
Not ‘Virtual Unknowns’
The problem, as Dijak explained, was that the members were not truly unknown to the audience.
“But the reality is, I wasn’t random people. I wasn’t, Mia Yim wasn’t. Even my tag team partner Mace had been an announcer on WWE TV before, Mason Madden. NXT had reached enough people to where we weren’t as unknown as they might have thought. So, it was different than when Isaac Yankem became Kane and a lot of people didn’t know – His mask covered more.”
“But, even when we first made our debut, everyone was like, ‘Ok, yeah, I know who all of those people are.’ (laughs) I’ll give you a great example. Imagine if Oba Femi came on TV and didn’t do the accent. A lot of people think that is his real accent – It is not his real accent. But, people think it is his accent because that is the only way he’s been presented. So, it makes him cool, awesome, and unique. I think Retribution had the potential to be cool, awesome, and unique if it was just 4 people you didn’t know.”
You can find out more options to watch at www.MLW.com and check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com for more great interviews.
