Archbishop Lefebvre was declared automatically "excommunicated" and schismatic by a modernist Pope. The good Archbishop's crime? Fearing his imminent death, he consecrated bishops to continue the formation and ordination of anti-modernist priests.
Rome had previously agreed, but then delayed, repeatedly, the promised consecration.
It was all planned: wait the good Archbishop out until he died, or declare him "excommunicated" if he performed the consecrations, even if it was from his death-bed. It was a win-win situation for modernist "Rome" and a lose-lose situation for traditional Catholics.
Lefebvre refused to give dossiers on bishops to Ratzinger. The consecration was to be August 15, but Lefebvre refused to offer new, Catholic candidates, even though he stated in a letter that he knew various traditionalists that would be accepted by the Pope as the bishop.
For instance, he stated that "The Traditional Benedictine Prior" Dom Gerard Calvet would be accepted. Dom Gerard knew that Lefebvre's consecrations were schismatic and left - but he still says even today that the New Mass is inferior and doesn't clearly express Catholic dogma, all while in communion with Rome and having his priests ordained.
Your theory is also disproved by the very fact that today the Pope is still willing to allow the Society to return to the Church without having to disavow its errors. It is the Society which stays purposefully outside, because the Pope refused to grant the "universal indult":
His Excellency Bishop Bernard Fellay: It was February 12,2001. Cardinal Hoyos said, "Listen, we have a problem. The problem is this permission for the Mass. The Pope agrees to say that the old Mass has never been abrogated and that it is legitimate to offer it. Cardinals Ratzinger, Medina and Sodano all agree. But their secretaries and under-secretaries do not agree. Therefore, we cannot say what you want. Instead, we will say that every priest and every group of faithful who wants the old Mass will have the ability to ask permission from a new commission that will oversee the concerns of the traditionalists." I replied, "Well, that's Ecclesia Dei II!" When the Cardinal relayed this information, I said, "That's it. They don't care about the problem."
This is on top of the statement in the Protocol that any bishop in the entire world could ordain the society's priests.
In any case, Lefebvre's bishops lack formal apostolic succession, which is given by the Pope. He made four bishops who are only material and not formal Successors of the Apostles - schismatic, non-Catholic bishops.