Last month, Matt Cardona filed for the trademark rights of his old WWE ring name, Zack Ryder. He later tweeted that he tried to get it but was denied.
The former WWE star found success after reinventing himself by working for various promotions such as GCW, NWW, and Impact Wrestling.
While appearing on Jason Powell’s Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast, Cardona revealed that even though the trademark did lapse, WWE fought him on the trademark so he backed off because if he took them to court WWE would’ve won because it’s their intellectual property.
“They did let it lapse (Cardona said about WWE’s hold on the ‘Zack Ryder’ trademark). I applied for it knowing there’s a chance they could fight it and they have so that’s it, I’m letting it go. It would’ve been cool to do a cinematic Matt Cardona versus Zack Ryder match. It’s not gonna happen. I’m not gonna fight — because at the end of the day, it’s their intellectual property. They would win if we ever went to court over it so I tried, they fought it so that’s it, I’m backing down.”
Cardona explained that he filed for the trademark because he wanted to sell merchandise and do a Matt Cardona versus Zack Ryder cinematic match.
He stated that in his opinion, Zack Ryder is dead, but the cinematic match would’ve been cool and he’s grateful for that time.
H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription
