Former WWE Star Says Retribution Stable Was Inspired By Antifa

Even a few years removed from their heyday, time has not been kind to WWE's ill-fated Retribution stable. The group, which was led by Mustafa Ali and featured talents like Dijak, Mia Yim, and Shane Haste taking on the names T-Bar, Reckoning, and Slapjack, lasted less than a year but is still remembered poorly for the outrageous names, poor booking, and perceived similarities to the political movement ANTIFA.

As it turns out, those similarities were more than just perceived. During an interview with "WrestlingNewsCo," former Retribution member Mace discussed the failings of the group, and confirmed that Retribution was supposed to be a take on the ANTIFA movement. He attributed the group's failings in part to that aspect of the gimmick being halted by one of WWE's broadcast partners.

"As I understand it, we were meant to be ANTIFA," Mace said. "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.' I really wanted to be like Power Rangers villains...but it 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 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."

If you use quotes in this article, please credit "WrestlingNewsCo" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription