Maddoxmania

For the past couple of weeks, ‘fired’ wrestler and general manager Brad Maddox has been stuck in a dark cave. Since leaving our screens back in May, Brad has been missed by the vast majority of the internet wrestling community. However, Maddox finally returned to the wrestling ring at a recent house show, in Macon, Georgia. He lost to Zack Ryder (which is actually a thing), before getting chopped by the cumbersome Khali.

Whilst it’s not necessarily the biggest comeback ever, it’s still nice to see Brad return to the WWE. He had a weird stint with the company after coming up from FCW, starting as a referee for the Hell in a Cell 2012 main event, starring Ryback and CM Punk. As Ryback was about to win against the straight edge champion, Maddox delivered a low blow to provide a win for Punk.

He officially turned heel, and later explained his reasons for doing so. Young Brad had always dreamt of being a WWE superstar, and becoming a referee was his way of getting into the company. He was offered a million dollar contract if he won against Ryback the following week, and after losing that match, Brad was involved in a storyline concerning his involvement with Paul Heyman.

Honestly, it was all a bit of a mess, and it didn’t get much better for Brad Maddox when he soon replaced Vickie Guerrero as the new general manager of Raw.

His tenure as general manager was a bumpy ride, which culminated in the Authority relieving him of his duties by the aid of Kane (a proven method when disposing of wrestlers). Since his departure in May, he’s been posting some sort of performance art in a wet cave, and he’s been participating in some news show with his adorable daughter, Ava.

So, why is his return to the WWE such an exciting prospect? Well, he’s Brad Maddox, for a start. His debut onto the main roster wasn’t the greatest, but his role as general manager had some stand-out moments, and it was clearly evident that he has charisma. He can go in the ring too, which can be witnessed earlier during in his time in OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling) and FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling – which later became NXT).

During his time in FCW, Maddox faced Husky Harris (Bray Wyatt) and Bo Rotunda (Bo Dallas), and even challenged Seth Rollins after he was signed on to Summer Rae’s new ‘organisation’. Along with a selection of good matches, he had some highly entertaining segments with his very own reality show, which are certainly worth hunting down. They even feature Husky Harris before he decided to get all creepy on us.

His moveset includes a signature single knee facebreaker (essentially Jericho’s Codebreaker), and the Deal Breaker, a finishing move which is essentially an inverted stunner. It looks great and he pulls off this simple move effectively whilst making it look deadly.

Obviously he’s talented in the ring, and he also works with gimmicks rather well. He even adopted an unusual gimmick for his time at OVW; a cringe-worthy necrophiliac. His WWE gimmick didn’t necessarily stand-out, but it was fun nonetheless. He just played the egotistical fool, who was always looking over his shoulder for any danger. He still provided the laughs though, and his commentary is almost on par with CM Punk’s witty one-liners. For example, when he once corrected Regal on calling an Indian Death Lock move; “Erm, I think you mean – Native American – Death Lock!”

Need any more reasons to love Brad Maddox? Well, he even allowed Cena to pick his own opponent for Summerslam, and we all know how that ended. Maddox played a huge part in Daniel Bryan’s feud with the Authority, leading up to Wrestlemania 30’s memorable ending.

Seeing as he returned at a house show, it seems hopeful that Maddox will eventually return to Raw and Smackdown. Hell, even if he turns up on Main Event or NXT, it’ll be the best. The WWE need to utilise talent like Brad Maddox properly, but how could they possible go about doing it?

Either forcing Brad Maddox into an Authority angle as a face or heel could work wonders. Flesh out his character a little more, provide some more backstage segments and there we go. Having him face off against someone on the midcard could work wonders, if provided a proper feud. He’s over with many fans, and he has the potential.

It’s clear to see that Brad Maddox is a future WWE champion, and his countless backstage segments which can be found on WWE.com and their YouTube channel provide yet more evidence for his greatness. It’s always a delight to see someone ooze pure charisma, whilst being technically decent in the ring. Brad Maddox was so criminally underutilised during his first run, that it’s now absolutely necessary for us to see him flourish this time round. Just look at him, he’s the best looking man in the company right now.

Brace yourselves people, because if everything goes our way – we could be seeing a new era. The Maddox Era. I hope everyone’s ready for Maddoxmania.