Matt Cardona wants one more match with John Cena and believes they could tell many different stories in the ring.
Matt Cardona's WWE persona, Zack Ryder, had a brief on-screen friendship with John Cena. Ultimately, the friendship did not work out well for the Zack Ryder character. Ryder quickly became a pawn for John Cena's enemies (and Eve Torres), and Ryder never had a major opportunity for single success during his time in WWE.
Now, Matt Cardona is finding tremendous success in the independent circuit as a singles competitor. Still, with John Cena looking to retire in 2025, Cardona says he's interested in a potential match against the 16-time WWE World Champion. During an interview with SEScoops, Cardona expressed his desire to have the match, gave his thoughts on some directions for the story that he and John could tell leading up to the match, and spoke about why he admires Cena.
"I've looked at the John for a long time. We did get close during my WWE run. He is just a pro's pro. What a way to go out. What a smart way to go out, huh? A whole year-plus because he's hyping it up in July," Cardona praised. "John is such a great guy. He's somebody who's definitely helped me in my career. But, yeah, all those posts that I'm making on social media, they're not BS. I would love to wrestle John Cena one last time. I think with the way WWE is now, it's something that could happen where I could just walk in, whether it be for one day, or make a return.
"I think, Zack Ryder vs. John Cena, those matches were fine. They were what they were," Cardona continued. "John Cena vs. Matt Cardona, that's that's where the story is, right? Because you could play it so many different ways. Matt Cardona could say, 'John, you're the reason my WWE career didn't take off.' There's so many things that we could play into.
Cardona also showed the confidence in himself, he has gained from his run on the independent circuit by saying that he is confident that no matter how he returns to WWE, he knows he will get a reaction from the audience. He cited the reaction he received during his match against Adam Copeland on the March 30 AEW Collision as a good example of the kind of reaction he generates from a live crowd.
"See, I know that if I walked through the door to WWE, surprise or not, I'd get a reaction. I'm not some guy who just like wants this next run; I know that if I come out and call this cocky, I know I'd get a reaction. I know it'd be great. I mean, look what happened on AEW when I wrestled Adam Copeland. 'Holy shit' chants on my entrance. Come on. What are we doing here? So I think John Cena vs. Matt Cardona would be magical, and I'm very, very happy he gets to go out on his own terms."
Fans can learn more about John Cena's retirement, which is currently planned for the end of 2025, at this link.
Matt Cardona was at WWE Money in the Bank when John Cena announced his retirement. Fans can read his thoughts on his time backstage at that event at this link.
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