"He's an a**hole in real life" - Former WWE star Matt Cardona picks a surprising name for best heel of 2022 (Exclusive)

Former WWE star Matt Cardona is officially one of Sportskeeda's Expert Panelists at this year's Wrestling Awards, and recently sat down to give his nomination for Best Heel of 2022, and surprisingly picked out MJF.

Cardona is quite the accomplished heel himself, and during his WWE tenure, he flexed some of his villainous muscles. But since branching out on his own, he's become the heel that he always envisioned but didn't realize in WWE.

Speaking to Bill Apter on WrestleBinge, Matt Cardona explained why Friedman is his pick for the Sportskeeda Wrestling Awards' Best Heel of 2022.

"I go with MJF for that. MJF, I think, is a true old-school heel in the sense that he’s not checking his Twitter to get compliments about himself and retweet them. He genuinely does not want to be liked, and I think that shines through. I don’t think it’s a character and he’s an a**hole in real life, and that’s great! He’s the champ right now." [09:04 onward]

Check out the full episode below:

Do you agree with Matt Cardona's pick? The star notably chose MJF over the likes of Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho. If not, why not vote for your favorite heel in this year's SK Wrestling Awards via this link

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Missed out on last night's AEW Revolution pay-per-view? Catch up with the results right here.

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Matt Cardona revealed that his long-time tag-team partner, former WWE star Brian Myers, trained MJF

MJF often threatens Tony Khan and the AEW fanbase with a WWE jump, whether it's true or not. Several veterans have questioned whether he'd survive in the promotion, and hopefully, for the star, he doesn't follow in the footsteps of his former coach, Brian Myers, who became the Ultimate Jobber as Curt Hawkins.

Cardona continued, expressing his pride in Friedman's rise to fame and Brian Myers' hand in it.

"Listen, Brian Myers, my partner-in-crime, trained MJF so I feel like I know MJF. Not that – no, I didn’t train MJF, I had nothing to do with his success. But in a way, I’m proud of him because I knew him when he was just starting out [and] to see what he’s accomplished in such a short period of time? You’ve got to respect that." [09:35 onward]

It remains to be seen if The Salt of the Earth will ever be WWE-bound, but after AEW Revolution, it seems like he will enjoy success in AEW for quite some time.

Check out Matt Cardona's The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast here, where he discusses the wrestling figures weekly.

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