Matt Cardona Recalls First Meeting With Andrew “Test” Martin

One of the less-remembered stars of WWE’s Attitude era was Test, a.k.a. Andrew Martin, who debuted on TV as a bodyguard for Motley Crue, and at one time portrayed Stephanie McMahon’s onscreen boyfriend. In a recent interview with Jeremy Jacobowitz, Matt Cardona remembered his time meeting test, after Jacobowitz mentioned that we need new action figures of the late star.

“Test was one of my favorites,” Cardona said. “Like, I’ll never forget summer ’99. He was red hot. He was my pick to win the Royal Rumble 2000 here in New York City. He did not win.”

“I will say this, though,” he recalled. “I get called up to the main roster. Actually, it’s before I get called up. I’m in developmental. Our developmental system at the time, Deep South Wrestling was in Georgia. And there was a famous pay-per-view, December to Dismember, ECW, which is one of the worst pay-per-views of all time.”

“But they sent some of some of us there. Test was there. I was so excited to meet Test. He gave me the no look handshake. It broke my heart. The, everyone knows if you’re a wrestler, you know, the no-look handshake. Someone’s walking down the hallway. You’re so excited to talk to him and they give you one of these [shakes hand looking in the opposite direction].”

As for possibilities that Cardona’s toy company could make figures of the late wrestler, who passed at the age of 33 from an accidental drug overdose, Cardona says, “There’s a lot of meat on the bone with Test. So hopefully he can sign a nostalgia deal somehow. Like the estate. There’s got to be a family member out there. Let’s do it. I like it.”

Check out the rest of the interview: