Fox Foils Antifa-Themed Wrestling Group's WWE Broadcast Ambitions

The group, known as "Retribution," was conceived during the pandemic era and was notorious for its Antifa-like tactics. Dressed in black bloc attire, the group wreaked havoc in the ring and set fire to props, mirroring the actions of the far-left group. However, the act failed to gain traction and was disbanded in 2021, just a year after its formation.

The Wrestling Observer reported that the original crew was made up of smaller wrestlers clad in black. However, following criticism over their size, larger wrestlers were introduced into the group. One such addition was Mason Madden, who goes by the stage name Mace.

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January 19, 2024

In a conversation with Steve Fall of WrestlingNewsCo, Madden shed light on the group's intended direction. "As I understand it, we were meant to be Antifa," Madden stated. "When Fox, because it was on SmackDown, found out that there was an Antifa angle on SmackDown, on their Fox program, they said, 'Hey, stop'." Madden further added, "So, confusion happened. They were like, 'How do we pivot this?' because they had already dedicated a decent amount of time to this angle, and then they gave us supervillain masks and I'm like, 'Cool.' I really wanted to be like Power Rangers villains." Madden admitted that following this shift, the group "never really got back on track."

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Madden expressed his disappointment over the group's downfall, stating, "Some people didn't want to do it and then it just kind of lost steam and they lost interest in it. When they lose interest in it, you don't win. The only way things work is if you have momentum and we never had momentum at any point."

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Madden also highlighted the fact that Retribution's existence coincided with pandemic restrictions, which prohibited live audiences. He speculated whether the group's lifespan could have been extended had there been a more effective way to measure the crowd's response.