Matt Cardona’s road back to WWE ran through a text his wife sent from a media day in Saudi Arabia, and he found out he was wrestling as Zack Ryder again when someone asked him to approve T-shirt designs.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Cardona laid out a sequence that started in the autumn of 2025 and ended with a full-time contract in January.
“From like September to when I re-debut in January, it’s like a mind f*** for me. It was such a whirl of things.”
It began with the TNA invasion of WWE NXT, which Cardona took part in despite not actually being under contract to TNA.
“I’m doing TNA, but I’m not signed to TNA. And I’m asked if I want to participate in the NXT invasion, like go invade NXT. And I’m like, well, if they think I really work for TNA, I went there, and I got paid, but I didn’t have a contract. I’m like, I’ll sneak my way in here.”
That led to a match with Josh Briggs, and a text.
“I texted Triple H, thank you for the opportunity. He texted back. It was all good.”
Within about a week, his wife Chelsea Green was in Saudi Arabia doing media for the Royal Rumble alongside WWE president Nick Khan.
“I’d said something to the effect, did you see my husband on NXT? And he said something like, I’ve never met him. Give him my number. So she did.”
Cardona did not wait.
“What do you think? I called him or texted him immediately. Immediately. I think it’s that day or the next day. He calls me, and he’s very straight to the point, which I love and respect. And I said, what do you want? I want to come back. It was as simple as that.”
That produced a video call with Triple H, which Cardona describes as pleasant and useless.
“It was a good call, but it wasn’t a good call. You know what I’m saying? Like, I’m like, there’s nothing here. There was no offer to come back. It was just a very friendly, civil, respectful call. I’m like, all right, well, I guess back to being the indie god, whatever.”
“I definitely said I was interested in coming back, but there was no yeah, we want to have you back. There was no here’s your offer. There was none of that.”
A few weeks later came the pitch to appear in the Last Time Is Now tournament to determine John Cena’s final opponent. Cardona assumed he would be doing it under his own name. On the Tuesday of that week, he got a message from WWE talent relations.
“He’s like, hey, we got some T-shirts for you to approve. And I’m like, oh, it’s cool, but how do you guys have my Matt Cardona logos? It’s like, oh no, you’re Zack Ryder.”
The problem was that Cardona had sold off almost everything from his first run.
“I’m thinking, oh f***. Not that I don’t want to be Zack Ryder. It’s that I don’t have any gear. What am I gonna wear, my WrestleMania stuff? Everything else I sold off, so everything that I had was either one-off, like WrestleMania title wing gear, or stuff that was all falling apart because it’s years old. I’m like, oh no.”
“Luckily, always ready. Got gear made in 24 hours.”
He never got an explanation for the name.
“Why were you Zack Ryder in that tournament? I have no idea, and I didn’t care. I brought both outfits. I said, you just tell me which one to put on.”
Cardona faced LA Knight on the November 14 edition of SmackDown and lost, and he was kept away from everyone all day.
“It was an absolute one-off. I was hidden in a room all day, so I didn’t talk to anybody before the match besides the producer and LA Knight.”
“It was a great experience, and I thought if this is it, this is perfect closure.”
The offer came after WrestleCade over Thanksgiving weekend, and Cardona again assumed he was signing as Ryder.
“I got a call like we want to sign you, and I’m thinking okay, like I’m just assuming it’s as Zack Ryder. So I get all this new Zack Ryder gear made, and then a week or so before my debut, I hear through the grapevine you’re gonna be Matt Cardona. Now I’m like, oh s***, I need new Matt Cardona gear.”
He is glad it landed where it did.
“I am very proud that they thought there was more value in Matt Cardona than Zack Ryder, because who else has left? Okay, Razor Ramon leaves, and Scott Hall comes back. He went to WCW. I did this all in the Indies. No one’s ever done that before. Gone to the Indies and come back as their indie persona.”
“If anyone else has done it, put it in the comments. I don’t think anyone else has.”
Cardona returned full time on the January 2 edition of SmackDown in Buffalo, New York, where the Zack Ryder music and graphics played before switching to his own, and he beat Kit Wilson. He was released by WWE in April 2020 after 14 years with the company.
