Matt Cardona says the time to go back is now.
Matt Cardona, formerly known as Zack Ryder, had a lengthy run with WWE, as he spent well over a decade with the company. WWE released him in a wave of cuts in 2020. Since then, Cardona has reinvented himself, and he has had a successful run around the wrestling world. He has held titles in NWA, TNA, and GCW, and he has wrestled for AEW. In 2024, he has come back to TNA, and though he missed some time with a torn pec, he has since returned to the ring.
Cardona posted a new video on his YouTube channel, and he reflected on his 2024 so far.
“It’s been a wild year, celebrating 20 years in the business, 20 years since my first match, four years since I was fired from WWE. Now, I’m just coming back from injury. The doctors said six to eight months, I did it in four. Time is not on my side. I’m not getting any younger, but I feel like right now, I haven’t even hit the prime of my career. I feel like my best years are ahead of me. I’ve done it all on the indies. Winning titles, cover of magazines, all over the world, and it’s been fun, and I needed it, I needed to find myself, both as a performer and as a man. I did, I did it all. The time is now to go back. Where do I go? Do I go back to WWE? Do I go to AEW? Just having that taste even, earlier this year, wrestling Adam Copeland [on AEW Collision], just being out there, jam-packed, real arena, not the Ukrainian Cultural Center in LA or The Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, a real arena, and the crowd responded, just on my entrance. It made me feel like, ‘Okay, everything I’ve been doing, it’s working,'" Cardona said.
Later in the video, Cardona discussed his goals. He stated that he dreamed of being the top guy, and he always wanted to win the WWE World Championship. Cardona said that was his goal, and while he might not achieve it, he would die trying. He went on to say that if he did go back, he knew he would make a difference.
"I didn’t dream as a little kid to just be a pro wrestler. I dreamed of being a top guy, the top guy. You have to have that goal to be successful in this business. I’m very fortunate in my career, 20 years, highs and lows. But I never got the big one. I never won the WWE World Title. That has to be the goal. Because if that’s not the goal, what are we doing? What am I doing here? What am I working towards? I might never achieve that goal, but I’m gonna die trying. I love the indies, I love everything about it. There are days, and we had a great show, made a lot of money on merch, and I’m thinking, ‘This is fucking awesome, I can do this forever. Then there are days where I’m like, ‘What the fuck am I doing with my life?’ When I’m at fucking GCW in LA and the locker room is a fucking alley, or if I’m in the middle of nowhere, I do the show, I don’t get a fucking tweet about it. Did this day exist in my life? It’s not just like, ‘I want to be back there.’ Everyone wants to be back there. But I know if I was back, I’d make a f*cking difference," Cardona said.
Cardona recently said that he had done everything on the indies, and it was time for him to go to a major TV company. Click here to see what he had to say.
Chelsea Green has said that her end goal with Matt Cardona is for the two of them to be in WWE together. Check out her comments here.
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