Matt Cardona won't be in the newest WWE video game, but you're still going to be able to play as him virtually in 2020 in RetroMania Arcade.
The sequel to WrestleFest is on a ton of platforms, and quickly announced that the former Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder would be appearing in the the game. Cardona told Fightful how that came about, and it was pretty simple
"Literally the day we were released somebody from RetroMania reached out," Cardona said. "Maybe it was the day after. Who didn’t love WrestleFest, right? An iconic piece of, I think, video game history, but definitely of my childhood. So, to be in the official sequel, I just said I could do it. Sign me up, man. Where do I sign?"
Being in video games was nothing new to Cardona, who has appeared in annual editions of WWE games for a decade-plus. He looked back fondly on his love for games growing up.
I was a huge video game guy growing up," said Cardona. "I think around n64 I kinda stopped because things became way too hard for me. But, even now, the other day I was playing Revenge on N64. Those games, No Mercy, WrestleMania 2000, but then once it starts getting into X-Box, Playstation 2, it just becomes too difficult for me and too time consuming. If you play No Mercy you can just do a Royal Rumble, you know what I’m saying? But, then you gotta do Career Mode, I’m like, “Oh, my gosh, this is too much.”
The pay to be in video games outside of WWE might not be near what it was in the company, but according to Cardona th ose numbers were shrinking anyway.
"Listen, this is another funny story, so the first year we were downloadable. Which, whatever. I’ll take it. Very, very excited. This was a dream come true. You want to have a t-shirt. You want to be in a video game. You want to have an action figure. That first royalty check, I’ll never forget, my dad called me and told me what it was. I was in my hotel room and I dropped to my bed, “What?” I couldn’t believe it. Then the years after that went drastically down and down and down. I don’t know exactly what happened, but still very cool the fact that we get paid to be in a video game. When you think about it like that, I get to be in a video game and I’m getting paid? Pretty cool," said Cardona.
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.
