Mark Madden?

[StraightEdgeRevenge]

First off I don't really know who this guy is. I've been around the sight looking for fun information and will sometimes click on 'reviews' and such things and there is his name.

How do you guys feel about him? I know the policy on this site is 'love him or hate him you have to listen' but I don't dislike him in a 'fun' way. And he's not a heel of the wrestling news industry. He's just kind of a jerk.

On chair shot reality he said he wanted to smother or choke Bischoff's son no reason. Then he suggests Velvet Sky smother him with her 'big jugs'? He went on and on saying what ever came to his head without really backing up any of his opinions but rather just insulting everything he could. He insulted fans for cheering for Hulk Hogan because he doesn't think Hulk has the ability to make crowds cheer? It's the most absurd thing I've ever heard.

I just don't think this website or the wrestling fans in general get anything good out of having a boorish and petty man be allowed to have his opinion featured anywhere. Let him post in forums but don't elevate him as important.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Madden is one of those guys that has a track record in wrestling...maybe not the most prolific one but he has worked for WCW and even edited Ric Flair's autobiography for WWE. He's well known for his outspoken and acerbic attitudes towards public figures and he once worked for ESPN radio and got fired for going on the air and making light of deceased Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy by referencing the infamous Lake Chappaqudick Incident which involved the death of a young intern of the Senator.

Click Here To Watch - MSNBC Reports ESPN Firing Mark Madden

The Chappaquiddick Incident - Click To Read

He'll get on the high horse all the time and praise Ric Flair and make excuses for his falls from grace while taking every spare shot he can to lash out at Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy and a host of other wrestling talents. Granted we know controversy follows the aforementioned but if the legit press has unearthed information about Flair's delinquencies with debt then how can anyone really take what Madden says seriously these days?

Regardless of this, the guy has had experience in the wrestling business more than I or most other fans posting on here have had or will ever have and while I am not the biggest fan of his, from time to time he will amuse me with his writings and his segments on Chair Shot Reality.

For all we know though he could still be in on the kayfabe gag and what he says about these wrestlers might not be how really feels about them either...however considering the comments he made about Senator Kennedy (whom I know had his faults without any doubt) respecting Madden though is difficult for me. And who knows his vitriol could be on the level.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I have next to nothing when it comes to respect for Mark Madden. He puts himself as well as WCW during the Attitude Era up on a pedestal then bashes today's product relentlessly. Madden is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. The man isn't even a has-been, he's a never-was. I find it very difficult to say anything positive about him because he simply is an old grouch with nothing productive to say and too much time on his hands. I read his articles up until this spring when I finally could not take it anymore.

Madden if you ever read this here is a message just for you: Stop it. Stop posting about how much you hate everything both WWE and TNA do. Either learn to enjoy today's product or don't watch it. It's that simple. You are far too negative and far too full of yourself. Your articles are not going to make other fans hate the product. Go watch your precious attitude era tapes or something. Those of us who live in 2011 want to enjoy watching wrestling without grouches like you ranting about every little thing that happens. Just stop it already. I challenge you, Mark Madden, to write an article about TODAY's product in WWE and TNA without bashing either one of them. Do that and I might develop some respect for you.

 

[badnewzxl]

Mark Madden sucks bc he is the stereotypical, cynical, impossible to please, childishly critical, obnoxious, fat, know-it-all jerk-off mark (no pun intended) that gives all hardcore wrestling fans (whom are now called IWC in order to chastise us for enjoying WRESTLING and not just WWE or TNA) a bad rep.

On top of that, he was the worst commentator for WCW during a time when it was the worst wrestling program ever (WCW in 2000 was awful; Madden was like a shit cherry on top). His only claim to fame was popularizing the word 'spinarooni' and that dumb-ass word/sound he'd always make when Stacey Kiebler would come out.

Now, he comes on wrestlezone and punishes us with his lame-ass opinion which he knows none of us care about bc he accomplished NOTHING AT ALL. I think he just wants to take all the fun out of pro wrestling; I've never heard him say a good or positive thing without immediately negating it.

Fuck Mark Madden.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I generally don't have all that much against Madden. He has the credibility of being someone that was in the thick of things in WCW during the most productive times in the history of the company. He knows a lot of people in the wrestling industry and has some legit insight into what's going on.

At the same time, however, I agree with Dagger Dias when he says that he thinks of himself and WCW during the mid to late 90s as being far better than it actually was. He relentlessly bashes just about anything about wrestling these days. If it's ROH, WWE, TNA or any other company that's even remotely on the radar, Madden almost never has anything good to say about them. He's entitled to his opinion of course, I don't begrudge him for that. At the same time though, he seems like someone that just loves to listen to the sound of his own voice or, in situations online, to see the words that he types pop up onto a screen and knowing that a good number of people will read them. That, first and foremost, I think is his main priority. Madden likes controversy, he likes confrontation and he absolutely loves to get under the skin of internet wrestling fans.

At the same time, you can only take what he says half serious at the best of times. In one line, he might be throttling TNA for their handling of Jeff Hardy and criticizing them for allowing that kind of behavior to go on. In the next line or paragraph, however, he'll make some extremely sexist comment about the Knockouts or Divas. So sometimes, he just sounds like he's ranting about whatever is on his mind or whatever he thinks might get the biggest rise out of someone.

In the end, take Madden for what he is: a guy that's had some real experience and does have some legit knowledge, but overly inflates said knowledge and exprience to an obscene and massively unrealistic degree.

 

[Larry]

Here's my take on Madden; I don't think anyone can deny that some of his gripes are legit. He does point out a lot of inconsistencies and bad moves that are made here and there. The problem I have with it though, is that he delivers these articles with such an obvious and pure lack of respect for the business or people he is writing about.

Madden has a short list of people he loves to attack on a regular basis and does so with great bravado and flare, even if it makes you want to punt his head off of his neck. It's always Dixie Carter, Vince McMahon, Jeff and Matt Hardy, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and DDP whenever he can work it in there. All people who either don't want him to work for them, or who work better than him. And, these are all easy targets I might add. That's not what a man does, that's what a bitch does. Mind you, he loves to build up "Old School" wrestling from the 70's and 80's because that's also easy to do when half the people reading don't remember it and he can go on about his fond memories of Ric Flair and Larry Zbyszko, and how everything they ever did was a gift from God.

What irks me the most about Mark Madden is the fact that he trashes the wrestling business so freely, and does so because it does not affect him. He's not in the business anymore he's a sports talk radio host, so no matter how his rants take a toll on peoples perceptions he pays no consequence, the business does. He couldn't care less how his hate filled tirades hurt the people he talks about and makes it so ever apparent. He is a guy that couldn't make it in this business and holds a grudge to this day because he was never "one of the boys". Maybe his attitude and ego had something to do with that.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

Madden is a shock jock, plain and simple. He's from the same mold as Vince Russo et al where they use inflammatory, unpopular remarks to try to draw a reaction. These types of people are constantly trying to work the audience.

The problem is that they know what they're doing, and they're going to keep going with it until they've gone too far - there's no reason to self-censure because they get more attention for their inflammatory remarks than they do for regular banter (case and point, Howard Stern).

Madden was an on-air WCW personality who now does 4 minute segments for an internet radio show. Basically, IMO, he got what was coming to him.

For those that don't like Mark Madden, I present the following to you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSY_iX8_Bgc
(fwd to 2:00)

 

[FlairFan2003]

Madden grew up in the Pgh area, and worked for the Post Gazette newspapaer covering sports and entertainment. He was the only writer in the area that covered anything related to Pro Wrestling, always getting interviews with top NWA & WWF stars when they came to town. He did excellent profiles on Flair, HBK, and Terry Funk among others for the paper, and wrote articles relating to business side/financial side of the industry, as well as previews of big Pay Per Views like WrestleMania and Great American Bash.

He also covered most of the local sports, particularly the Penguins, and he did color commentating for them for years.

Madden was the one who convinced Flair to appear at charity banquets sponsored by the newspaper, raising ticket sales via his appearances in the process. Madden also in part was reposnisble for the newspaper coverage at the time of several prominent Steelers who were big wrestling fans, watching PPVs in each others homes, etc. There was a rivalry of sorts between Steelers linebackers Levon Kirkland & Kevin Greene regarding the Flair vs Hogan feud. If you remember, when SuperBowl 30 was played in Phoenix and WCW had a live Clash Of Champions special that week in nearby LAs Vegas, Flair helped arrange for several Steelers players including Kirkland, Jason Gildon, Mike Tomczak and others to get free tix and front row seats for the show, although only Greene appeared in the ring (he jumps in to save Hogan from a beatdown after he and Randy Savage lose a tag match to Flair & Big Show).

Essentially, Madden has covered pro wrestling professionally for 25 years, since the end of the territory days and during the fight for control of the industry between Vince & Jim Crockett Jr. His time employed in WCW actualy was a very small part of his wrestling related career, basicaly just allowing to get to get to know a few more performers better (sure seems to have a high opinion of DDP haha).

In any event, wether you agree with him or not, or think he's a bit too negative RE: todays product, Madden was covering pro wrestling as part of his job before many people posting on this site were born. He's probably the most well versed indiviual on the business and its top personalities that this site has working for them.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Madden grew up in the Pgh area, and worked for the Post Gazette newspapaer covering sports and entertainment. He was the only writer in the area that covered anything related to Pro Wrestling, always getting interviews with top NWA & WWF stars when they came to town. He did excellent profiles on Flair, HBK, and Terry Funk among others for the paper, and wrote articles relating to business side/financial side of the industry, as well as previews of big Pay Per Views like WrestleMania and Great American Bash.

He also covered most of the local sports, particularly the Penguins, and he did color commentating for them for years.

Madden was the one who convinced Flair to appear at charity banquets sponsored by the newspaper, raising ticket sales via his appearances in the process. Madden also in part was reposnisble for the newspaper coverage at the time of several prominent Steelers who were big wrestling fans, watching PPVs in each others homes, etc. There was a rivalry of sorts between Steelers linebackers Levon Kirkland & Kevin Greene regarding the Flair vs Hogan feud. If you remember, when SuperBowl 30 was played in Phoenix and WCW had a live Clash Of Champions special that week in nearby LAs Vegas, Flair helped arrange for several Steelers players including Kirkland, Jason Gildon, Mike Tomczak and others to get free tix and front row seats for the show, although only Greene appeared in the ring (he jumps in to save Hogan from a beatdown after he and Randy Savage lose a tag match to Flair & Big Show).

Essentially, Madden has covered pro wrestling professionally for 25 years, since the end of the territory days and during the fight for control of the industry between Vince & Jim Crockett Jr. His time employed in WCW actualy was a very small part of his wrestling related career, basicaly just allowing to get to get to know a few more performers better (sure seems to have a high opinion of DDP haha).

In any event, wether you agree with him or not, or think he's a bit too negative RE: todays product, Madden was covering pro wrestling as part of his job before many people posting on this site were born. He's probably the most well versed indiviual on the business and its top personalities that this site has working for them.

Therein lies the problem though, Madden has the knowledge and experience but rather than using this to benefit an industry he claims to love, he burns bridges and offers nothing constructive. As such, I avoid his 'perspective' the same way I avoid the nonsensical ravings of the Warrior.

 

[three count bout]

Actually I think he's lightened up recently in contrast to some of his earlier editorials. I remember at one point it seemed the only things he wrote were articles disparaging TNA, his opinions felt biased due to the fact the company employed some of his former colleagues. His stance on WWE at this point seemed positive solely because they were successful, and his pieces were nothing more than toting a good business model instead of anything related to the quality of a promotion.

More recently though, I've noticed his articles tend to be more fair IMO. Even recently he detailed in length what he thought TNA Should be doing and how he felt they could make some positive changes and the comment sections were still filled with "All he does is bash IW" and he actually gave constructive criticism. Of course he attempts to draw the ire of the IWC with some outlandish comments but you come to expect it with Madden. I've read him give pros and cons to each fed, and ways he thinks they can improve. He didn't just say WWE didn't handle the Summer of Punk angle correctly, he actually stated how he would've booked it. Bottom line, if you feel he's too negative don't read his stuff but if you manage to stick around and sift through his thoughts you may find some insight from a person who has covered the sport for quite some time.

 

[DirtyD79]

He's the reason I first came to this site. Even when I don't agree with him I still find his columns entertaining. I also listen afternoon sports radio show everyday. Unlike the dulldrones and jocksniffers on the other stations he actually has a personality and isn't afraid to tell it like it is.

 

[HollywoodLuthias]

Always thinks he's above everyone else just b/c he has a radio show. The fat slob has no concept of reality apparently..... If he's so smart, why does he eat so much? Especially after a heart attack?
Super Genius my ass!

 

[Peoples_Champ]

Therein lies the problem though, Madden has the knowledge and experience but rather than using this to benefit an industry he claims to love, he burns bridges and offers nothing constructive. As such, I avoid his 'perspective' the same way I avoid the nonsensical ravings of the Warrior.

100% right. He could be such a benefit to the industry, but he doesn't care to. His only objective is to shoot and sell himself. I acknowledge that he's right more often than not and I admire his intelligence of the industry. The problem is that its rarely constructive and he doesn't add value to the industry.

It's the same reason I started to dislike Bobby Heenan after his retirement - he has a brilliant mind for the business, but he would often say that wrestling is a dying industry, its a dying business. Ignoring the fact that its a multi-billion dollar industry with several million viewers weekly, he would bury the entire industry. Its severely disappointing, because he just didn't care about the business any more and didn't care to improve what was wrong - it was dead to him as far as he's concerned. While Madden isn't as bad, there are many parallels between he and post-retirement Heenan.