The pandemic-era group "Retribution" engaged in tactics not dissimilar to members of the masked far-left group, laying waste to the ring or setting fire to props, complete with black bloc attire. It was formed in 2020 and disbanded in 2021 after failing to garner support.
According to Wrestling Observer, the crew was originally comprised of smaller wrestlers dressed in all black, but when people complained that they were too tiny for the WWE, other bigger men were brought in. Among them was Mason Madden, known by his stage name, Mace.
"As I understand it, we were meant to be Antifa," Madden said during an interview with WrestlingNewsCo's Steve Fall. "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'."
"So, confusion happened," he added. "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 villians."
Madden explained that after that, things "never really got back on track."
"Some people didn't want to do it and then it just kind of lost steam and they lost interest in it," he lamented, "and 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."
As Madden pointed out, Retribution's entire existence took place during a time when pandemic restrictions meant no live audiences were allowed to watch. He questioned whether the group would have lasted longer had there been a better way to gauge the crowd's reception.
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