Mark Madden Fired by WCW - The Hypocrisy Continues

“I obviously didn't get fired based on doing a bad job. I got fired because I upset the wrong people,” a quote posted by Mark Madden on his official web site the day after being terminated by World Championship Wrestling.

The controversial Pittsburgh radio personality and columnist was supposedly fired for two reasons. On television, Madden spoke about subjects off limit - Scott Hall and the potential sale of the company. Madden was also told he was released after giving an unauthorized interview in which he knocked the company rather than putting it over.

"When I was told to stop talking about the sale (of WCW), I did stop talking about the sale. When I was told to stop talking about Scott Hall, I did stop talking about Scott Hall a month before anyone else did. If those are the reasons I was let go, frankly, they don't hold water,” Madden told the Pro Wrestling torch web site.

Madden was fired by Craig Leathers, WCW’s head of television production. In the weeks leading to Madden’s termination, Leathers himself had featured classic Hall matches on WCW Worldwide, the company’s syndicated program.

Regarding the unauthorized interview, Madden told the same source, “I was told that I did an interview without company permission where I ripped the company. I defy anyone to produce that interview because it doesn't exist.”

Weeks earlier, WCW suspended Madden with pay for making a disparaging remark about Diamond Dallas Page. A short time later, Page initiated a backstage brawl with Scott Steiner after he cut a negative television promo on Page. The forty something Page was not disciplined for his actions, nor was he after continuously mentioning Scott Hall on television. Of course, Madden was made the scapegoat.

Prior to the final live “Nitro” taping of 2000, Page extended his hand to Madden to evidentially put the incident behind them. Madden declined to shake Page’s hand, and went about his business. Since Page attempted to shake hands in the locker room in front of the talent roster, many perceived it as a way to look good in front of the boys.

Madden was hired by Eric Bischoff back in 1994. With the sale of WCW to a group led by Bischoff almost completed, many insiders believe Madden wasn’t someone the former WCW president thought was worth keeping. It should almost be pointed out that Bischoff and Page are close friends, having lived as next door neighbors for a time.

WCW had every right to terminate Madden on the basis of his work as a commentator, but that wasn’t the reasons he was given. After the story broke, WCW tried to change their tune. “Since the announcer's debut on Nitro months earlier, WCW management has grown more and more dissatisfied with his work,” claimed “Mean” Gene Okerlund on the company’s hotline.

In weeks leading to his dismal from WCW, Madden’s on-air colleague Tony Schiavone had lobbied backstage for the outspoken announcer’s axing. Many believe Schiavone could be the next to receive a pink slip if Bischoff returns to power.

Putting a positive spin on his dismissal from WCW, Madden wrote, “in many ways I'm gonna be happy to be free of a business where performance means little and politicking means everything.”

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