WWE advances Brad Maddox storyline, say he's 'suspended'

Maybe WWE has a plan for Brad Maddox after all.

Or maybe the creative team is just hard at work in an attempt to advance his storyline any way they can after Vince McMahon made the decision to use him to get out of the corner which the promotion booked itself into at Hell in a Cell this past Oct. 28 in Atlanta, Georgia, with WWE Champion CM Punk and his match against Ryback.

Maddox, you see, inexplicably delivered a low blow to The Ryback just as he was about to Shell Shock Punk into oblivion and, presumably, win the WWE championship. He then proceeded to quick count Ryback's shoulders down, completely screwing him over.

The next night on Raw, there was little to no explanation offered because, well, they hadn't quite worked that out yet.

It appears they've done so now, however, with an update at WWE.com on Maddox's status. From the story:

The rogue WWE referee who went into hiding after attacking Ryback with a shocking low blow at WWE 'Hell in a Cell' has been summoned to WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Conn., to be questioned by a Board of Inquiry Thursday morning. ... Maddox was suspended for his controversial actions, which arguably cost Ryback a victory over WWE Champion CM Punk inside Hell in a Cell. But will there be additional, more severe punishment on the way for Maddox? Could the rookie official implicate that another party was involved in his choice to inject himself physically into the pay-per-view main event?

Originally, it was believed Maddox was brought in to run an angle involving Punk in September that saw him accidentally screw up the ending to a match just so Punk and Paul Heyman could make fun of him for being a replacement referee. If you remember, this is right around the same time the National Football League (NFL) was dealing with major controversy week after week thanks to its replacement referees botching games.

Yes, this is how petty McMahon can be.

Only the storyline never really went anywhere because once the replacement referees cost the Green Bay Packers a game against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football, the NFL quickly settled with the real officials and all went back to normal the following week.

Maddox would continue working shows, as the explanation he initially gave -- that he was hired after Raw went to three hours -- still holds up just fine. And, of course, if they needed to later, they could always somehow tie him into future storylines or even have him debut as an actual wrestler at some point, as he was working as such in FCW prior to being called up for the replacement referee angle.

Now, it appears at least they have a general idea of what they want to do here and I'm curious to see which way they go with it. In cahoots with Punk and Heyman, as a way to pay them back after he screwed up before? Well, that just seems downright logical, now doesn't it?