Former WWE Star Says “Keep Playing Your Character” On Social Media

Keeping fans guessing is the motto for the former WWE United States Champion on social media, and he wants other Superstars to follow suit by staying in character during online interaction.

With the rise of social media, the personal lives of Professional Wrestlers has been dissected by fans almost as much as their in-ring work. AEW World Champion MJF is well known to stay in character during in-person meet and greets and across social media.

However, the majority of Pro Wrestlers use online platforms as themselves, not the character they portray on television.

A former WWE Intercontinental Champion, who has built huge success in independent wrestling through fan interaction, has called on more of his colleagues to treat social media as an extension to their performance.

Matt Cardona spent 15 years working for WWE under the guise of Zack Ryder, before being released as part of the Covid-19 cutbacks in 2020.

Since leaving, Cardona has established an online presence with creative content that pushes his independent storylines, and alongside his former Raw Tag Team Championship partner Brian Myers, has built The Major Wrestling Figure podcast.

Cardona was discussing social media whilst appearing on Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw and although understanding the difficulty, feels that by interacting in character, it keeps fans guessing and furthers their investment in a storyline.

“I think it’s a very challenging thing, road to walk down but it can be done because I think in no other industry…if you’re watching a movie or TV show, that actor [or actress] doesn’t tweet in character. But in wrestling, you can be tweeting about the guy you attacked on Raw and the next day, [post] a family vacation picture.

If you can walk that line and still leave that doubt in people’s minds, I think that’s the best we can do at this point. I think for sure, at least for me, you’ll get the real me on social media whether it’s me with my wife or me in the pool with my dogs, but I’ll be a piece of s**t to somebody.

I’ll curse them out, I’ll give you everything where you can be like ‘Is this guy really a d**k?’ If you [have them] questioning, you’re doing a really good job. It’s tough because like I said, no other actor is tweeting in their character, so it’s a weird world that we’re all trying to play. I think you gotta keep playing your character on social media or else what’s the point, nobody is going to be invested.”

One of the most successful nights in Matt Cardona’s WWE career came at WrestleMania 32 where he came out on top against three of WrestleMania 39’s main eventers in a ladder match.

Cardona picked up the win over Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Cody Rhodes, then working as Stardust.

Matt recently shared details on how he dealt with a WWE Hall of Famer wanting to fight him at WrestleCon.

Cardona is married to Chelsea Green who returned to WWE earlier this year and has been teaming with Sonya Deville, with the pair snapped up by Raw on Night One of the WWE Draft last Friday.

H/t to 411Mania