For weeks now, fans of professional sports-entertainment have shocked and appalled by the unexpected appearance of Retribution — a cabal of masked men whose monicker may be a cryptic clue as the the group’s mysterious leader. 

If you re-arrange the letters of “Retribution,” you can spell “CM Punk Run-In,” which all-but confirms that Cecil Montgomery “CM Punk” is returning to WWE. 

Eagled-eyed wrestling pundits have pointed out other clues as to the identities of the violent vigilantes:

• If you translate “Retribution” into German, then to Swahili, then to Welsh, then to Russian, you get “Broski,” the Russian word for brother, and a common term employed by Zack Ryder. Could he be in the group?
• During one recent invasion of the WWE Performance Center, the tallest member of Retribution (estimated at five-foot-nine) could be heard bragging about being a certified G and bona fide stud, and vehemently insisting that such things cannot be taught. This leads one to the conclusion that another member of Retribution is controversial former WWE superstar Dean Douglas. 
• If you pause at just the right moment, you can see that one member of Retribution has his name stitched into the waistband: Mojo R. (our reporters are still digging to determine who this could be).
• One member of Retribution, according to sources within WWE, is actually one of Akira Tozawa’s ninjas who took a wrong turn backstage. 

If CM Punk is the leader of Retribution — and, let’s face it, we have made a water-tight case for that here — could it be long before we see the return of another controversial figure who left WWE on fractious terms: Cactus Jack?