Christian Cage was popular in the WWE for his tag team with Edge during the Attitude Era. He was an established wrestler who, along with Edge and other tag teams at the time, revolutionized the concept of TLC matches. However, when he broke into his solo wrestling career, Christian believed that he wasn’t given opportunities to prove himself. After seven years with the company, he left in 2005.
During his recent interview, Christian shared that one match that made him reevaluate his position with the company was the triple threat match at Vengeance 2005. He believed that Chris Jericho was added in the mix with him and John Cena because WWE probably didn’t believe he was a main eventer.
Christian details how the match with John Cena made him leave WWE
Christian and Edge parted ways in 2001, after which the former held various singles titles for the WWE. He won the European, Hardcore, and Intercontinental Championships. However, he left WWE in 2005 and signed on to TNA. He recently opened up about his exit from WWE during an interview with Chris Van Vliet.
When asked the reason behind his decision, Christian shared, “It was the stuff that I did with Cena.” He further detailed an instance where the company failed to promote him as a major star. He shared that he did a TV program with Batista in the U.K., where the Animal was “the biggest baby face star” and he was supposed to be the heel.
Christian shared that Batista received booing from the crowd, and they cheered for him at that stage. However, when it was aired in the U.S., the chants for Christian were cut out. Even Batista was baffled at the company’s decision. Christian recalled:
They booed him out of the building, and they cheered for me. When that aired in the United States, you didn’t hear any ‘We want Christian, Batista sucks!’ chants. After we came back, he said, ‘What are they doing with you, man?’ He goes, ‘They have to do something.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know’.
While it had already made him feel bad, the nail in the coffin for him was the triple threat match at Vengeance 2005. He shared that he and John Cena were supposed to be competing in the main event. However, Chris Jericho was added to the mix. He shared that it bothered him that the company didn’t consider him a main eventer. It was the writing on the wall for Christian, who decided to leave WWE. He told Chris Van Vliet:
And then the triple threat thing happened with myself and Cena and Jericho. You know, when they inserted Chris into that. Maybe because they didn’t see me as a big enough star at the time to be able to carry that. So they added Chris in.
That bothered me, and I was like, ‘You’re not even going to give me the chance to prove that I can do this. You’re going to just add somebody else in here.’ So that was for me, the writing on the wall. I was like, ‘Nothing’s going to change unless I change it myself.’
Christian returned to the company in 2009 and went on to win the ECW Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. He retired from the company in 2014 due to medical reasons. He later returned to the ring for AEW in 2021.
Christian was drafted to SmackDown just before his exit
While the match with John Cena already made Christian reconsider his position at the company, he was drafted to SmackDown in 2005. He was one of the final draft picks for the brand, where he was just another superstar who wasn’t probably going to gain any significant attention from the company.
On his first night with the SmackDown brand, he got to compete in the World Heavyweight Championship match. However, he didn’t get to shine in the following matches. On October 31, 2005, his contract with the company expired. He was offered a new deal, but he chose not to re-sign with the company.
It was rumored that former WWE boss Vince McMahon didn’t see the potential in Christian to become a main-eventer. Drafting him to the SmackDown brand affected his credibility as a performer, leaving him not much choice but to look for opportunities elsewhere.
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