Donovan Dijak talks about owning a SLAPJACK mask instead of his T-BAR one to commemorate his time in WWE’s RETRIBUTION faction.
RETRIBUTION was a short-lived faction in WWE synonymous with the pandemic era of content. The group consisted of SLAPJACK (Shane Haste), RECKONING (Mia Yim aka Michin), MACE (Mason D. Madden), RETALIATION (Mercedes Martinez), T-BAR (Donovan Dijak), and Mustafa Ali. For the most part, the group is remembered mainly as a failed experiment during an unprecedented time in the world, where a global pandemic forced WWE to run shows without fans in attendance.
Donovan Dijak has always been one of the most outspoken individuals about his time with the group. On social media, he regularly makes jokes about being traumatized by those days. As such, he does not own his T-BAR mask. He did, however, recently reveal that he does possess the SLAPJACK mask.
Speaking about the picture he posted on X with the SLAPJACK mask, Dijak told Jeremy Lambert and SP3 all about what happened to his old mask during his recent appearance on Fightful Overbooked’s In The Weeds. He also said that somehow, it was Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson and Elton Prince) who ended up with the SLAPJACK mask and asked Dijak to give it back to Shane Haste, which he doesn’t plan to do.
“I actually don’t have a T-BAR mask. I had a T-BAR mask, and I sent it to NXT when I got moved to NXT. The first vignette we ran they dropped the mask into a burning fire pit. They decided to run that vignette three days before the event. I live in New England so I had to overnight them the mask. They’re like, ‘Are you okay if we burn this?’ ‘Please do.’ I don’t have one, but I think maybe Mason has one because we are all friends with Jason Baker, the WWE mask maker, who is tremendous and one of the greatest assets that the company has. They had a bunch of spares and sent them to him. I think he has a bunch. I don’t. The only one I have is the SLAPJACK mask because, I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but Pretty Deadly somehow ended up with the SLAPJACK mask because I think they’re friend with Shane (Haste) and he sent them the mask to put in the background of a shot. I have a hazy picture of Pretty Deadly doing a Halloween (skit) where they are stuck in a haunted house and they wanted to plant the SLAPJACK mask in the back of the vignette as an easter egg. It wasn’t approved. They’re like, ‘We have the SLAPJACK mask. Can you give it back to Shane?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll see Shane.’ I never see Shane [laughs]. Even if I did see Shane, I’m not giving him the mask back. It’s too much fun to have it.”
Donovan Dijak is now one-half of the MLW World Tag Team Champions, the Skyscrapers. His new tag team partner is former WWE Superstar Baron Corbin, now known as Bishop Dyer.
The Skyscrapers will be part of MLW Fightland on September 13. The event will stream live on MLW’s YouTube channel. Learn more about that event
here.
Check out the full interview embedded above.
