{"id":83160,"date":"2021-01-19T10:12:30","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T15:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=83160"},"modified":"2021-01-19T10:12:30","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T15:12:30","slug":"feud-new-day-retribution-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/01\/19\/feud-new-day-retribution-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Could a Feud With The New Day Be Exactly What RETRIBUTION Needs?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The New Day\u2019s Kofi Kingston<\/strong> suffered a broken jaw on December 28, at the hands of <strong>The Hurt Business\u2019s Cedric Alexander. <\/strong>Despite pushing through the pain for a couple of weeks, Kingston is currently sidelined in recovery. That leaves his New Day teammate <strong>Xavier Woods<\/strong> holding down the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/01\/10\/wwe-xavier-woods-deserves-push\/\" target=\"_self\">fort alone<\/a> on <em>RAW. <\/em>Alone seems to be exactly where <strong>Mustafa Ali<\/strong> wants him. The <strong>RETRIBUTION <\/strong>frontman has his sights set on Woods to address his grievances against Kingston, and this feud may be just what RETRIBUTION has been lacking.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">break <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WWERAW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WWERAW<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0Tbr6VTzxJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/0Tbr6VTzxJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mustafa Ali (@MustafaAli_X) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MustafaAli_X\/status\/1351287839129034752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 18, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Ali made it clear in a promo before the match that he delights in Kingston\u2019s broken jaw, and the idea of him watching the <em>Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, <\/em>and <em>WrestleMania<\/em> from home, seeing his dreams stolen by another. This alludes to Ali\u2019s 2019 injury, which led to him being substituted in the Elimination Chamber by Kingston, who went on to defeat <strong>Daniel Bryan <\/strong>at WrestleMania 35 and claim the WWE Championship. Grounding Ali\u2019s aggression in bitterness at this lost opportunity makes sense-Kingston took Ali\u2019s place on the Grandest Stage of Them All. It is the kind of broken dream that RETRIBUTION has vowed time and time again it is their mission to avenge, but until now that has seemed hollow. As Ali vowed to break Kingston\u2019s heart and spirit by breaking Woods in Kingston\u2019s proxy, the RETRIBUTION storyline finally gained what it has been lacking since its summer 2020 debut: a backstory, and an adversary.<\/p>\n<p>Woods and <strong>MACE <\/strong>met in the ring, with Ali and his other RETRIBUTION subjugates on hand. Ali berated Woods, and Woods struck first blood with a punch to Ali. It was a gutsy move, considering that Ali has his whole faction to call on, and Woods is a man alone with Kingston\u2019s injury and <strong>Big E\u2019s <\/strong>departure. However, that is just the sort of Heel vs. Face tension that RETRIBUTION\u2019s storyline needs for dramatic heft.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Xavier Woods vs. MACE: Raw, Jan. 18, 2021\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/idfZXdEIYC4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>MACE lumbered towards Woods, swinging wildly at him, with Ali shouting encouragement at his surrogate. It was Woods, however, who seized the advantage quickly, and got MACE in a corner, pummeling the giant with punches and kicks. Mace broke free, deadlifted Woods, slammed him to the canvas, and got a cover. Wood kicked out, foiling any thoughts on MACE\u2019s part that this would be over quickly and easily. MACE retorted with a knee strike to Woods\u2019s back, and covered him once more.<\/p>\n<p>Ali exhorted MACE to break Woods\u2019s jaw as he maneuvered him into a punishing headlock. However, Woods valiantly fought free. Using the ropes to propel him, Woods showed off the insouciant physicality the New Day is known for by launching into a sliding knee shot against MACE. His aim was true, but still, the lumbering Mace was not phased. Woods\u2019 onslaught was not finished, as he reigned elbow strikes on the back of Woods\u2019s head. He attempted to backflip into a strike on MACE, but landed in his opponent\u2019s grasp, MACE\u2019s hand around his neck.<\/p>\n<p>Woods issued a hard kick to MACE that sent him outside the ring. Ali stepped up, and got a kick from Woods, too. It was an impressive, fiery, spirited showing from a solo Xavier Woods, but MACE\u2019s prodigious strength won the day. Mace lifted, spun, slammed, and covered Woods, getting the win.<\/p>\n<p>While this is not the first time that the New Day and RETRIBUTION have faced off, this showing inaugurated a promising new narrative. It established the Ali v. Kingston feud, with Ali seeking to punish Kingston through Woods, which keeps Woods relevant during his partner\u2019s leave of absence, and Kingston on the audience\u2019s mind, anticipating his heroic return whenever possible. \u00a0It was also hinted that Kingston is not the only Superstar he harbors resentment against for stealing his spotlight. This positions Ali as a vengeful narcissist, who is manipulating RETRIBUTION to his own end. Will MACE, SLAPAJCK, T-BAR, or RECKONING figure out they are being used and turn on him? Who will Ali target next? Continuing in this vein may be a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/01\/13\/wwe-save-retribution\/\" target=\"_self\">shot in the arm<\/a> for RETRIBUTION.<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. WWE fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content, including these Sasha Banks matches on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Day\u2019s Kofi Kingston suffered a broken jaw on December 28, at the hands of The Hurt Business\u2019s Cedric Alexander. Despite pushing through the pain for a couple of weeks, Kingston is currently sidelined in recovery. That leaves his New Day teammate Xavier Woods holding down the fort alone on RAW. Alone seems to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3715,"featured_media":77033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4,3],"tags":[552,69,553,7251,507,6744,47,7294,551],"class_list":["post-83160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raw","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-big-e","tag-cedric-alexander","tag-kofi-kingston","tag-mace","tag-mustafa-ali","tag-retribution","tag-wwe","tag-wwe-analysis","tag-xavier-woods"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3715"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}