10 Most Controversial WWE Firings Ever

It is difficult to convey to a generation of reality-obsessed wrestling fans just how hot the 2005 feud between Matt Hardy and Edge started off. It was unlike anything WWE fans had seen before, a truly despicable heel and a vigilante babyface, a blood feud born out of real-life events that didn't just blur the line between reality and television; it smudged it beyond all recognition.

The feud came about when Lita (then Matt's girlfriend) had an affair with Edge, a betrayal that somehow led to Matt Hardy getting the boot from WWE. Hardy was on the way back from a serious knee injury, and the liaison had taken place while Matt was out. Some sources even claim that Edge had promised to look out for Lita on the road, although that might well be too juicy to be true.

What isn't up for debate is that Matt Hardy was fired because his girlfriend cheated on him with a company favourite (or more specifically, because of his distraught online reaction to the betrayal). The fans were understandably outraged, and almost overnight Edge became the biggest heel in the company.

In a rare moment of awareness, WWE seemed to understand that they had misread the situation and rehired Matt, kicking off a subsequent feud with Edge. The feud was a tremendous success, the heartbroken Hardy finally getting sweet revenge on the friend and lover that had so callously betrayed him.

Not really, the two had a feud that Edge won in decisive fashion, and Hardy was soon back slumming it in the lower part of the card. WWE gonna WWE.