WZ writer Mark Madden appeared on a recent edition of WOOOOO! Nation, hosted by Ric Flair, and the following transcript comes courtesy of Mark Adam Haggerty and DailyWrestlingNews.com:
A recent episode of “Wooooo! Nation” with Ric Flair featured former WCW color commentator, and current Pittsburgh sports radio broadcaster Mark Madden. This show tends to run off the rails from time to time, so it’s up to producer Conrad Thompson to act as the conductor. Engineer? Who drives a train? Conrad asks broad questions and gives both Madden and Flair time to respond on various issues.
Ric says that he first met Mark Madden in 1986 when he came to a show at the “Igloo” in Pittsburgh to present the “Nature Boy” with a commemorative plaque. They actually met nearly a year earlier when Madden conducted an interview with Flairfor the Post-Gazette. That’s why he was bringing a plaque—it was the article. They start with small talk, and Conrad asks Madden if he’s ever wanted to get back into wrestling. He says that he’s not upset he never got into it again because there isn’t a place for someone like him given today’s political climate. He says that most WWE and TNA broadcasters focus on the positives and never highlight the negative, which is something he was known to do as a “heel announcer.”
He says that he’s known Charlotte since she was born, and commented that when he had her on hisshow, she kept calling him Mr. Madden. He laughed and told her: “Ashley, you’re on the WWE roster, you don’t have to call me Mr. Madden anymore.” Flair reminds Mark that he used to ride with the “Nature Boy” and the “Million Dollar Man” during his WCW days. Ric says that they used to get a case of Coors light and make towns—“then Teddy found religion. Several times.” Ric talks about a celebrity golf event that he appeared at for charity, and Mark says that whenever Ric is in the presence of “legitimate sports stars, everybody’s focused on the ‘Nature Boy.’ Everyone wants to meet Ric Flair.” Conrad and Mark make fun of Ric for his riding the bandwagon with whatever team comes out on top: “Conrad you know Ric’s favorite team,” Mark Madden asked? “The one that’s winning.” Ric says that he has favorite players, not teams. He says he follows LaBron, and likes the New York Giants because he’s friends with Lawrence Taylor. He also says: “I like the Colts now because of Sergio Brown. Holding them Alligators down!”
Mark tells the story of when he and Ric Flair went to a bar in Pittsburgh, and ran into a Penn State linebacker who swore he could break the Figure Four. Ric told him: “If I can get it on you, there’s no way you’ll get out. There’s no way.” The kid let him apply the hold, and wasn’t able to remove his legs from Flair’s grip. He told him: “Okay I can’t get out, but it doesn’t hurt.” Flair tightened his hold and applied pressure to the knee. “I thought every martini glass in the place was gonna break,” Madden says, “The way that kid screamed.”
Conrad asks Mark what led to his exodus from World Championship Wrestling just months before the promotion was purchased by Vince McMahon. He says that while it wasn’t his choice to leave, he was happy to go given the current state of the company. He says that Diamond Dallas Page was the one who convinced the “Powers that Be” to fire Madden. When Conrad asks why, Mark says: “Because DDP was a sensitive bitch and I heeled on him pretty hard this one time and he didn’t like it.” Mark Madden says he coined the nickname “D.D.Me” because he feels Diamond Dallas Page is the most self-serving person to ever work in the industry. “Hogan looked tame by comparison!” Of DDP Yoga,Mark Madden says: “If it works that’s fine. And the stuff he’s doing with Jake and Scott Hall is fine. I just trust charity a lot more when somebody doesn’t call a camera crew every time they do something.” DDP wanted to go on Madden’s radio show about ten years ago to promote DDP Yogawhen it was still “in its infancy,” and when he called the radio station he told Mark’s producer: “Oh I’m an old friend from WCW.” Upon hearing the news, he told his producer: “Fuck that guy, we’re not friends.” Several weeks later, DDP was talking to Kevin Nash, and Dallas told him that Madden refused to have him on his show. Nash said, “Page—you got him FIRED!” DDP was so unaware of anything but himself that he responded with: “You think he’s still mad about that?” Conrad asks if DDP is the most overrated wrestler of all time. Madden says, “He was a competent midcard wrestler, but favoritism and cronyism is what put him over the top.”
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
