Matt Cardona wrestled his first match outside of the WWE umbrella in 14 years, and he said doing it in All Elite Wrestling was an easy decision.
After Cody implied that All Elite Wrestling wouldn't be bringing in his friend Cardona, the opposite happened. Cardona opened up to Fightful how and why all of that went down, even after an EVP indicated it wouldn't.
"I mean, it was one of those things that Cody is one of my good friends, if not one of my best friends, so it was kind of a no-brainer. On our podcast, our producer would always joke, “AEW confirmed” in that nerdy internet troll voice. I was like, “Listen, nothing is confirmed yet, we’re talking.” Of course, I wanted to be and still want to be in AEW because it’s the best. For how many years did we hear, “The next fed’s comin’. The next league’s comin’,” and it never did, right? AEW it comes, it arrives and it exceeds all expectations in my opinion. They’re mainstream, pay-per-views, live on TNT, action figures. This is the real deal. So, who wouldn’t want to be involved in this?," Cardona said.
It was quickly reported that Cardona's deal with All Elite Wrestling was a short term one, but it became clear that Cardona wanted to be with the company on a more permanent basis. The former Zack Ryder tells us some more broad plans and goals for his tenure.
"Listen, I didn’t come to AEW to just get a t-shirt on AEWShop.com. It’s a very nice shirt, but that’s not why I came to AEW. I came to AEW to win Championships, to have great matches, to have fun, right? So, I would love to wrestle Cody for that TNT title or go for the AEW title. Maybe team with Cody for the Tag Team titles. But, just being in the ring for the first time in five months on Dynamite, it was just so much fun. I was very nervous before. I watched it once, I’ll never watch it again. That’s it. But, I loved it. I loved the whole experience. That’s what wrestling should be, I think. I can’t wait to do it again," said Cardona.
Even if All Elite Wrestling doesn't end up happening full time for Cardona, there's plenty of other places he could land. Right now, options are limited, but he's looking forward to navigating uncharted waters, as he has many times before.
"I love to the hustle. Whether it would be on that old YouTube show or the Major Wrestling Figure podcast, I love being creative and hustling and seeing the results to my hard work and now, being free, there’s nobody that’s going to stop me. If I fail I fail. But, I want to at least try. That’s why I was so excited being free. It’s weird right now, there are no independents. There’s a couple going on here and there. But, I want to wait until everything’s safe. I don’t want to take any independent bookings and then have to cancel them. So, that is a weird predicament, not being able to wrestle on these independents. But, hopefully soon we’ll be able to," Cardona said.
You can see Fightful's full interview with Matt Cardona at the top of the page. Also make sure to check out Major Wrestling Figure Podcast to find their show, Youtube channel and Patreon.
