WWE Told Mustafa Ali He Was Joining RETRIBUTION Earlier That Day

Following RETRIBUTION's unveiling on WWE TV, T-Bar appeared to be the faction's leader but Mustafa Ali was revealed as the head of the group a couple of weeks later. The former Heart Of 205 Live has been the faction's focal point ever since and RETRIBUTION is currently locked in a feud with United States Champion Riddle.

Ahead of his title match on last night's Raw, Ali spoke to Comicbook.com's Connor Casey and the RETRIBUTION leader revealed he didn't find out he was joining the group until earlier that day.

After being asked if him joining the group was always the plan, Ali said: "I wasn't around during the formation of the group, so I don't know. You never know here. They keep secrets for a reason. I found out I was joining Retribution that day, but I had been auditioning, so to speak. Again, man, storytelling, I kind of looked at my career at a snapshot. I made my return. Nothing really happened. I was off for seven months, for no apparent reason to me other than just creative had nothing for me.

"When I was initially looking at the mirror, I go, 'What is wrong with me? Nothing's wrong with me. Look at me.' Again, after seven months, you have to eventually have that look in the mirror and go, 'What am I missing?' I think the thing I was missing was a little bit of edge. I knew I could cut a great promo. But again, within the confines of being a good guy, you're very limited as to what you can say.

"So I presented the idea of doing something. It wasn't being the leader of Retribution, it was, I met with Vince McMahon and the creative writing team and said, 'I think I'm capable of doing more and this is the route I'd like to go.' And it was basically, 'Well, you'd have to show us.'

"So I recorded my own promos, my own videos. I had to audition basically to not be a good guy anymore. And if you go back and you watch these WWE Main Event matches I was having before joining Retribution, you would see the small details, the storytelling when I was slowly becoming more aggressive, a little bit more violent, having a little bit more of these heelish tendencies in my matches."