Matt Cardona On Why He’d Want To Use Real Name In WWE
Matt Cardona has explained why if he ever returned to WWE, it would be under his own name and that Zack Ryder wouldn’t be making a return.
Fans tuning into Raw and SmackDown these days will be forgiven for channelling their inner Goldberg as they ask “who’s next?” amid a raft of returns to WWE.
Dexter Lumis, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Dakota Kai, Braun Strowman, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, Emma, and Bray Wyatt are among those to have returned to WWE following their respective releases since Triple H took control of the company.
Matt Cardona – who previously competed in WWE as Zack Ryder – proudly announced on Twitter “Zack Ryder is dead. Long live Matt Cardona!” in response to if he would one day return to the company.
Speaking to Kevin Kellam of Sportskeeda Wrestling, Cardona explained that he might one day head back to WWE but if he did, he’d have to do it under his own name:
“It’s certainly exciting, right? Every week, it seems like someone’s coming back, debuting, or re-debuting. It’s fresh, it’s exciting, it’s must-see TV, and I think that’s what wrestling should be. Yeah, I said Zack Ryder is dead because, listen, never say never, right? But if I were to go back, I think it has to be as Matt Cardona.”
“Zack Ryder, it was what it was. I am so grateful for that run. It has set me up for this run. Without being Zack Ryder in WWE, I wouldn’t be Matt Cardona talking to you right now. So, it set me up for everything, but the ‘Woo Woo Woo’, the headband, but sunglasses, it’s dead.”
“I was trying to get away from that stuff while I was still Zack Ryder in WWE, but you can’t write the show, you know? So if I’m trying to be more serious, but you are booked to be not so serious, it is what it is. That’s why when I was let go, it was like, ‘Oh my god, this is,’ — not that I had any handcuffs on, but the handcuffs were off. I was able to just become the new version of me whatever that was going to be.”