On a recent edition of “The Ten Count” podcast, former WWE Superstar Mace (Mason Madden) of Maximum Male Models discussed the RETRIBUTION faction and how the menacing group pivoted its creative direction when FOX nixed the “Antifa” influence.
Mace was released from his WWE contract in September 2023.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On how he joined up with RETRIBUTION: “The thought was and as I understood it, they weren’t sure where they were going. But the initial thought when they had the little guys — that’s actually how I ended up in RETRIBUTION was they had the little guys with the ski masks on making a mess. And then everybody bragged on it, because they were like, ‘Look at how small these guys are, Drew McIntyre would kill these guys.’ So the next week, they said, ‘Vince said get some bigger guys.’ So they actually got some Performance Center guys, and I managed to sneak my way in as an extra long enough to get unmasked, and actually get called up.”
On FOX nixing the Antifa influence on the group: “But as I understand it, we were meant to be Antifa. 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. 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. Let’s lean into being — I really wanted to be like, like Power Rangers. Yeah, I wanted to be Puddies…we looked crazy, but like, I feel like there’s a vibe for that.”
On what ended up happening with the group: “Yeah, but they just, it never really got back on track. Some people didn’t want to do it. And then they ended up — it kind of just lost steam, and they lost interest in it. And when they lose interest in it, you don’t win. And the only way things work is if you’re you know, if you have momentum, and we never had momentum at any point, but it’s funny to hear that you (Steve) liked it because I get it all the time when I go out and I do things people are like, ‘Oh, we loved RETRIBUTION’ and it’s so interesting, because that entire period of my career was in the Thunderdome. So we had no live crowd. I was never RETRIBUTION in front of an audience. So we had no idea how the audience was reacting to it. We’d obviously look on Twitter and Twitter’s you know, notoriously more negative. It would have been really fascinating to know how the audience would have reacted to the RETRIBUTION angle, just because that lets you pivot, you know, like, if they’re like, Oh, these guys are actually scary, then play into that.. Oh, these guys are kind of ironically goofy, play into that. But we’ll never know. It’s an alternate universe.”
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The RETRIBUTION faction in WWE was a group that gained attention and sparked interest among fans. However, its creative direction took a turn when FOX, the network that airs SmackDown, nixed the “Antifa” influence on the group. In a recent podcast, former WWE Superstar Mace (Mason Madden) of Maximum Male Models shed some light on the behind-the-scenes details of RETRIBUTION and how it evolved.
Mace explained that the initial idea for RETRIBUTION was to have a group of smaller individuals wearing ski masks causing chaos. The intention was to showcase their size disadvantage against bigger wrestlers like Drew McIntyre. However, after receiving feedback that the smaller guys were not perceived as a threat, Vince McMahon instructed the team to bring in larger individuals. Mace managed to join the group by sneaking in as an extra and eventually got unmasked and called up to the main roster.
One interesting aspect Mace revealed was that RETRIBUTION was originally meant to be an Antifa-inspired faction. Antifa is a loosely organized political movement that opposes fascism and far-right ideologies. However, when FOX found out about the Antifa angle on their program, they put a stop to it. This led to confusion within the creative team, as they had already invested a significant amount of time into the angle. To pivot the storyline, they gave RETRIBUTION supervillain masks instead. Mace expressed his desire to lean into a Power Rangers-like vibe with the new masks.
Unfortunately, RETRIBUTION never regained its momentum after the creative shift. Some members of the group were not fully invested, and interest in the faction waned. Mace emphasized that momentum is crucial for success in professional wrestling, and without it, things tend to fizzle out. Interestingly, Mace mentioned that he never performed as part of RETRIBUTION in front of a live audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Thunderdome setup. Therefore, they never had a true gauge of how the audience would have reacted to the angle.
The podcast episode also featured a video interview with Mace, where he further discussed his time in RETRIBUTION and other aspects of his career. The interview provided additional insights into the creative process and the challenges faced by the faction.
In conclusion, the RETRIBUTION faction in WWE underwent a creative shift when FOX disapproved of the Antifa influence. The group transitioned to wearing supervillain masks but ultimately lost momentum and interest. Mace’s interview shed light on the behind-the-scenes details of how RETRIBUTION came to be and its subsequent challenges. While the faction may not have achieved its full potential, it remains an intriguing part of WWE history.