5 WWE firings that caused controversy among fans

#4. Brad Maddox

Brad Maddox was introduced to WWE as a referee in the match between Ryback and CM Punk back at Hell in a Cell in 2012. Maddox was the reason that Ryback failed to win the WWE Championship and this later led to Maddox becoming an authority figure on RAW alongside General Manager at the time, Vickie Guerrero.

Maddox later looked to become an in-ring star and changed his name to Joshua Kingsley, but this was short-lived since the former referee cut a shocking promo that forced Vince McMahon to fire him.

Maddox spoke to Rolling Stone Magazine back in December 2015 following his release from the company, where he confirmed the line that forced The WWE Chairman to give him his marching orders.

"I had a dark match in Indianapolis and I called the Indianapolis crowd “p*****.” 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."

Some had a certain amount of sympathy with Maddox, as other WWE Superstars have made similar mistakes, but have not lost their jobs as a result. However, in the WWE PG era, there is little margin for these sorts of errors - and so Maddox was gone from the company. The 36-year-old has since retired from wrestling.