USA Network being unhappy with WWE ratings possibly led to two RAW storylines (Exclusive)

We saw Reckoning and Slapjack of RETRIBUTION face Ricochet and Dana Brooke in a mixed tag match on this week's episode of WWE RAW. Mustafa Ali has been trying to recruit Ricochet unsuccessfully in recent weeks. The match saw Ricochet and Dana Brooke pick up the win after Brooke pinned Reckoning.

WWE pitched RETRIBUTION and RAW Underground storylines after USA Network were unhappy with ratings

On the latest episode of SK Wrestling's Legion of RAW, former WWE writer Vince Russo said that he had inside information about what led to the RETRIBUTION and RAW Underground storylines. Russo said that he has information that around six months ago USA Network told WWE that they were unhappy with ratings and creative direction. In turn, WWE pitched the RETRIBUTION storyline and RAW Underground to the USA Network:

I gotta tell you something, I'll give you a little inside information and this isn't second, third, fourth, fifth hand information. This is Vince Russo information and I can't tell you how I got this information, okay? But I will tell you this, I've got information direct from a good source, this isn't second, third, fourth hand. About six months ago, USA Network let it be known to WWE, they were not happy. 'We're not happy with these numbers, with what we're paying for this show, we're not happy with the creative'. They were not happy about a lot of things, okay?

So the WWE came back to USA and pitched the two big creative storylines that were going to boost the ratings and get them headed in the right direction, When I heard this at that time I laughed, like I laughed when I heard it. But this is what they sold USA on - the big two story ideas - bro, do you know what they were? RETRIBUTION and RAW Underground. Those were the two ideas they sold the USA Network on. Look at those two ideas. I mean, could they have been any worse? Could they have come up with anything worse than what they promised that network?

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— Mustafa Ali / Adeel Alam (@AliWWE) December 8, 2020

The RETRIBUTION storyline definitely has not gone the way WWE would have hoped. Although Mustafa Ali's reveal as the leader was a big moment, the general feeling is that WWE failed to capitalize on that. As for RAW Underground, it ended up being canceled around two months after the concept debuted.

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