Matt Cardona did not come back to WWE to fill a spot on the card.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, the SmackDown performer said the reason he pushed to return is the same one he has had since he was a kid, and that he is not interested in framing it as anything smaller.
“I’m grateful for my career, the highs and lows, being the U.S. champ, IC champ, tag champ, and it’d be great to have those again. I’m not going to say I don’t want those, but I came back to be the WWE champion.”
“I believe if that’s not your goal, then what are you doing in this business? But not everyone feels the same way, and that’s fine. That’s just how I feel.”
Cardona said the goal was also the reason he needed to be back in WWE specifically rather than continuing as the most successful independent wrestler in the business.
“One of the goals was always to be the WWE champion. You can’t be the WWE champion unless you’re in WWE, right? So I had to get back there.”
He said he made the same argument to Triple H directly.
“This is what I said to Triple H, before I got re-signed. I said I can’t hit a home run if I’m not in the game.”
Cardona is aware his television record does not look like a contender’s, and he does not think it matters.
“You look at my win loss record. Okay, I lose a lot, but when I win, I win like big. And it just takes one win. And I’ve been counted out so many times throughout my career, by the office, by the fans, by myself, and I just always come back. I always find a way to come back. I’m like a cockroach, you cannot kill me.”
The version of himself WWE has not seen yet
Cardona said the character currently on television is not the one that made him a draw outside the company, and that the difference is the point.
“I left and I reinvented myself, but who you see right now is not who I was on the Indies. The heel, ultimate opportunist, no redeeming qualities, Matt Cardona. That’s what I feel like WWE needs to see from me.”
He does not have a plan for how it happens.
“I’m not exactly sure how we’re going to get there, but I’m always ready. And I’m in the game, so if the opportunity presents itself, I will capitalize.”
He also said he is far more comfortable on a microphone than he was during his first run, because the independent scene forced him into reps he never got in WWE.
“When I left WWE, I could probably count on two hands how many promos I cut in the ring. So I knew if I had any weak points on the Indies, it was cutting promos. So luckily, I could just do whatever I want on the Indies. I cut a promo before every single match, and sometimes I had an outline, or if it was a storyline-driven promo, things I wanted to say, but I would go out there and wing it, listen to the audience, and I got so comfortable on the microphone.”
“So if WWE gave me that opportunity, I would love it. But if they gave it to me 10 years ago, I would have been shaking in my boots.”
Cardona turned 41 during this run and said he is in better shape now than he was at the start of his career.
“I’m 40 years old, 41 now, but I feel better now and look better now. I wrestle better now at 41 than I did when I was 21. And you look at the landscape of WWE, the two current champions are my age or older. But then again, there’s all these young up and comers, so I gotta be on my toes to keep up with them.”
He acknowledged he has somewhere to go if it does not work out, and then dismissed it.
“If it doesn’t, I found my place outside WWE, and I could always go back there, which is great, like a good backup plan. But I don’t want a backup plan. This is the plan, to be the WWE champion.”
Cardona has held the Intercontinental Championship, the United States Championship and the World Tag Team Championship across his two WWE runs, and he won world titles for NWA, GCW and other promotions during his time away.
