Brad Maddox on the Line That Got Him Fired From WWE

Last week, the WWE career of Brad Maddox came to an end. And it was somewhat fitting that it happened when he wasn’t on television.

After all, when Maddox was called up to WWE in 2012, the promotion came after a promising run in the company’s developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, where he had won the tag titles twice and was the final holder of the FCW 15 title before the NXT rebranding. So it was a surprise to some when he debuted as a referee in WWE. Still, he made the most of the moment, shifting into the role of a corrupt official before letting his charisma shine as the general manager of Raw.

But after being “fired” from the GM position in 2014, he disappeared from TV almost immediately – save the occasional cameo as a turkey on The Tonight Show – until he was released last week after working a dark match in Indianapolis. All in all, a man who was a promising developmental wrestler managed to work just eight televised matches on the main roster.

But Maddox isn’t mad. In fact, when he spoke to Rolling Stone, the man now known as “Mad Braddox” admitted that his firing was probably a good thing. Here’s what he had to say about getting released by WWE, the frustrations he felt backstage and where he goes next.

What, exactly, led to you being released from WWE last week?
I had a dark match in Indianapolis and I called the Indianapolis crowd “pricks.” I didn’t think anything of it. That’s never been a bad word to me. I didn’t think it was inappropriate. Vince [McMahon] was watching and did not like it. That was pretty much the reason.

Did you get a chance to sit down with Vince and try to explain your side at all?
No, I didn’t get a chance to talk to him before I left. I wanted to, but I didn’t get a chance to. When I came to the back, people seemed split on it. Half the locker room didn’t think I could say that, the other half didn’t see a problem with it. To me, it’s like saying “screw you.” I didn’t think it was inappropriate at all, especially for a dark match. I was out there trying to work up the crowd. It’s not for TV. I’m making fun of the hometown and their football team and talking to them directly. I was just trying to warm the crowd up, that was my role. It just didn’t work out.

Do you feel there’s a bit of hypocrisy involved here, because sometimes you see people on TV saying much worse things than “prick” and nothing happens to them…
No, just because those things are cleared ahead of time. You could call this “going into business for myself.” Which I really didn’t do. I didn’t think that I’d go out there and call them pricks and get noticed more. That’s not what I was doing at all. My words weren’t cleared ahead of time though. That’s the real difference.

I’d like to talk a bit about your career in WWE. You had been in FCW for a while, doing well there, but when you were called up, it was as a referee. Did you know that was going to be your role?
I was told that it was going to move into a wrestling role. That was a concern of mine. I liked the creative idea of doing something different and unique, but I didn’t want to become a full-time talker. I wanted to wrestle. I did all the things in developmental that they said you have to do. They put trust in me by giving me several different championships in FCW. They gave me the Jack Brisco FCW 15 Championship, which was their real wrestling title, the equivalent of the Intercontinental Championship. I had the FCW tag titles with Rick Victor. I expected it to morph into a regular wrestling role.

What I didn’t know at the time was that it was a gimmick just to win CM Punk another match. I should have been more proactive about that. I should have gone to Vince right off the bat, asked if he knew who I was and knew that I could wrestle. I should have asked where this was going and what they were going to do with me now that I was here. I just kind of expected the writers to have some grand plan for Brad Maddox, and I certainly shouldn’t have assumed that. That would probably be one big regret, assuming that it was going to turn into something bigger than what it was.