Mace Opens Up On Backstage Reaction To Vince McMahon's 2022 WWE Retirement

Mason Madden, formerly known as Mace in WWE, has remembered the chaos that ensued behind the scenes after it was announced that Vince McMahon was going to retire in 2022.

The former WWE star, who was a part of the Maximum Male Models stable alongside Mansoor, LA Knight, and Maxxine Dupri was a recent guest on "WrestlingNewsCo," where he discussed about McMahon's retirement following accusations of harassment and abuse levied against the former WWE Chairman. Mace recalled the day McMahon retired being the same day Maxxine Dupri would debut on "WWE SmackDown."

"That was Sydney, Maxxine Dupri's, first day on the job. Her first day on the job, we get there, where she's nervous. She was supposed to have an in-ring promo and we're just like ... she's with us the whole time because she doesn't know anybody. She's brand new like, '[we tell her] don't worry just stick by us everything's going to be fine,'" said Mace.

He stated that there was confusion behind the scenes as to what would happen following McMahon's retirement and recalled the show being rewritten in quick time.

"We get the text that Vince is retired and everybody's running around like the whole place is on fire," he recalled. "Well, obviously the show completely changed within minutes. We have no idea who's actually in charge."

Madden also remembered the roster's reaction to the news, with some being happy, while others unsure about McMahon's exit.

Mace said that he and Mansoor were pleased to see Stephanie McMahon take charge as she had previously complimented and went to bat for them. 

"We have a meeting where I believe that's when they announced that Stephanie would be taking over as the CEO. Stephanie, who we love. Stephanie who ... we thought we had jobs for life because after we did our SummerSlam water spot, Stephanie walks up to me and Mansoor and she says, 'You guys are amazing. You guys can do no wrong.' I was like, 'We've got jobs for life, baby.' We were wrong. But she's always been lovely to us."

He recalled that those who were a part of the Black and Gold "NXT" were elated that Triple H was going to be in charge, but the athletes who were Vince McMahon's "guys" were not pleased to see him retire. Mace added that it was very chaotic after McMahon's initial retirement as the former WWE CEO would sometimes call in and ask for the show to be changed.

"It's funny when we all got the texts we're all sitting around the ring because people are going over their matches and their segments and all that and you could see certain people got it and they were like [happy] and then other people were like [sad]," said Mace. "Not that we were ever like Vince's baby doll but we were much closer to being Vince's toy than we were ever to being Hunter's toy because we weren't NXT guys."