A former United States Champion has shared that he would’ve been fired from WWE back in 2007 if it wasn’t for Adam Copeland (fka Edge). The person in question is Matt Cardona.
The Deathmatch King and Curt Hawkins used to be a tag team known as The Edgeheads, and were associated with The Rated-R Superstar from 2007 during his run as a top heel. They often interfered in the WWE Hall of Famer’s matches and helped him retain the World Heavyweight Championship multiple times.
During a recent interaction with Dr. Beau Hightower, Matt Cardona was asked to name up to six wrestlers who would be in his Mt. Rushmore. The first person he mentioned was Edge, and he stated that he would’ve been fired from WWE much sooner if it wasn’t for the AEW star.
“I’m going to do the ones who are influential to my career and my life. So I got to put Hogan on there. I got to put Edge on there, without him I probably wouldn’t be on this table right now. I probably would have been fired from WWE in 2007 and probably I don’t know what I’d be doing, working at Gold’s Gym on Long Island after that. Yeah, Hogan, Edge, Macho Man for sure,” said Cardona.
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He added:
“Always loved Macho Man, always loved his different outfits and how he would always try to – he wore the same thing twice but you really got to do research to find out… I think Shawn Michaels too, he was one of the first bad guys I liked and didn’t quite know at the time why I liked a bad guy. He was so good in the ring and so smooth and made all the matches better. So obviously those would be four. If you need two extra ones let’s add [Chris] Jericho on there and Christian.”
The Rated-R Superstar made a shocking return to the ring in 2020 during the Men’s Royal Rumble match. He reached the final four but was eliminated by Roman Reigns. He was away from in-ring action for nine years. The Ultimate Opportunist went on to win the Rumble the following year and he competed in the main event of WrestleMania
His last match in WWE took place on the August 18, 2023, episode of SmackDown, where he defeated Sheamus. He would then go on to sign with AEW after his contract expired. He is currently sidelined with an injury.
