WWE Abandoned Plans for Antifa-Like Faction

WWE has a lot of things in the pipeline for fans, but that doesn’t mean every single idea sees the light of day in the company. In fact, WWE had plans for a faction inspired by Antifa but quickly scrapped that idea.

Former WWE Superstar Mace signed with WWE back in 2016 and made his main roster debut back in 2020 as part of Retribution. Unfortunately, plans for the faction were not well thought out whatsoever.

This group, led by Mustafa Ali, featured notable names such as current AEW talent Mercedes Martinez, NXT standout Dijak, the then-NJPW star Shane Haste, and SmackDown’s Michin. Despite their debut in August 2020, the faction was disbanded merely seven months later.

While speaking with Denise Salcedo on Instinct Culture, Mace talked about the initial idea behind the formation of Retribution. Mace revealed that WWE planned on making the group similar to Antifa, but ultimately nixed the idea due to all the controversy that would have followed.

“[Where did the pitch come about? When did you think of it? How did you feel being part of Retribution?] There was no pitch. If you remember correctly, the initial appearance of Retribution was a bunch of extras because there were a bunch of like really small guys at the time. That’s why, that’s actually how I ended up being in it. There were a bunch of little small guys that were extras. They had no idea who they wanted them to be from what I understand. And I think they were trying to do an Antifa thing. I think that was the idea.

“But at the same time, it’s a very big company. There’s not really much room for controversy anymore. So, at some point they were like, ‘Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t. But we already did this big angle and we need to kind of finish it in some capacity.”

During the company’s latest slew of releases back in September, Mace and Mansoor were handed their release and have since been involved in the independent circuit, where they have already displayed more character than ever before.

What’s your view on what Mace had to say about Retribution being similar to Antifa? Are you glad WWE did away with such a plan? Let us know in the comments section below!