Brad Maddox was fired by Vince McMahon immediately after losing his last match in the WWE, ending a seven-year stint with the company.
Since signing for OVW in 2008, Maddox had been on the way to becoming a top wrestler in the WWE, culminating in a two-year run as the general manager of Raw.
However, his career took a dark turn after he was fired (literally – Brad Maddox was stuck in a cave for a time) and the character that had dominated TV for years was suddenly nowhere to be seen.
It would be another year since we would get another glimpse of the former RAW GM on TV, in a very brief yet controversial spell as a wrestling.
After he was fired from his role by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, followed up by an attack from Kane, Brad Maddox disappeared from TV.
He had recently wrestled on the WrestleMania XXX show in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but was relegated the appearing on house shows following his dismissal.
This continued for about a year before Maddox was given another shot. In this time, he had died his hair blonde and changed his name to Joshua Kingsley, but quickly reverted to Brad Maddox when a tag team opportunity alongside Adam Rose arose (bud.)
He wrestled the likes of Mark Henry and Zack Ryder as Joshua Kingsley, but never made it to TV.
Dubbed “Beef Mode” (likely a play on Maddox’ previous wrestling name, Brent Wellington), Maddox and Rose wrestled in one match on Main Event, never once getting the chance to wrestle on Raw or Smackdown.
Their sole match together came on November 18, 2015 episode of Main Event, where Maddox was introduced to the WWE Universe before a short defeat to The Usos (Jimmy and Jey).
This was Brad Maddox’s last televised match for the WWE, but his actual last bout would be a dark match a week later.
Before Smackdown was broadcast on 24th November 2015, Brad Maddox was brought out for a match against R-Truth, to keep the live crowd entertained before the show began.
This may have also been a chance for Vince McMahon to get another look at Maddox, with a view of getting him back on TV as a full-time wrestler. It was a huge opportunity for Brad Maddox, who was even given a microphone to cut a promo before the match.
This was where the issue began.
Before his scheduled match against R-Truth, Brad Maddox cut a promo on the way to ring. The details of his promo are unclear, but he revealed that he ended his promo by calling the crowd “Cocky Pricks”.
This doesn’t sound like a huge deal, but it ended in Vince McMahon kicking him out the arena and firing him the next day.
“I cut a promo on my way out to the ring” Brad Maddox said, in an interview with Wrestling With Rip Rogers. “I called the Indianapolis crowd “Cocky Pricks” at the end of my promo.
“He (Vince McMahon) kicked me out of the building after that. It was Smackdown, because Vince McMahon never watches shit before Smackdown starts, so that was weird.
“So he sent me home” Maddox continued. “And the next day [Mark] Carrano called me and told me [that he was fired]”.
Brad Maddox lost this match to R-Truth, in what was his last match in WWE. He was fired one day later, and all-but retired from professional wrestling afterward.
Nearly one year later, Maddox came out of retirement (wrestling as Mad Braddox) to have one final bout at the MPW All Star Spectacular II, losing in a six-man tag team match. As of 2023, that was his final match in wrestling.
You can see the interview with Brad Maddox below, or click this link to find out what happened to Brad Maddox after he was fired.