Matt Cardona has addressed returning to WWE with his indie persona rather than as ‘Zack Ryder.’
In November 2025, Matt Cardona made a one-off return to WWE during the ‘Last Time Is Now’ tournament under his old Zack Ryder ring name. However, when he signed with the company full-time two months later, he came back under his real name of Matt Cardona, which he had been using for the preceding five years on the independent scene.
During a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Cardona explained how he found out he wouldn’t be going back to WWE as Zack Ryder.
“Okay, so then I think it’s a one-off. I get the Triple H point, which is great. I sold some 8x10s with that. Thank you, Triple H. He’s like, ‘We’ll keep in touch,’ and they did. About a few weeks later, I was at WrestleCade, so I guess after Thanksgiving, I’m eating dinner with the boys after signing all day and a match, and I got a call like, ‘We wanna sign you.’ I’m thinking, okay. I’m just assuming it’s as Zack Ryder so I get all this new Zack Ryder gear made, blah, blah, blah, blah.
“Then a week or so before my debut, I hear through the grapevine, ‘You’re gonna be Matt Cardona.’ Now I’m like, Oh sh*t, I need new Matt Cardona gear.’ But I am very proud that they thought there was more value in Matt Cardona than Zack Ryder.
“Who else has left? Okay, Razor Ramon leaves, and he comes back as Scott Hall. He went to WCW. I did this all in the indies. No one’s ever done that before. Gone to the indies and come back as their indie persona. It was a crazy gift.
Matt Cardona Was Able To Keep His Outside Interests After Signing With WWE
While in the past, WWE stars have had to give up outside interests like Twitch channels and podcasts, that wasn’t the case for Matt Cardona. The star says the company has been “cool” about him keeping his podcast and toy line, although he admits there were some legalities to work out before he was able to sign his contract.
“It was a crazy couple of months because Chelsea (Green) and I were moving into a new house. It was the whole contract negotiations, and not like I want more money. Nothing like that. It was more like because I have all these outside things that I’m involved with, and WWE is so cool about me keeping my podcast, my toy line. But there was a couple of things legally that we had to work through. It wasn’t just like, ‘Okay, here’s the contract, sign it.’”
In an earlier interview, Matt Cardona revealed the role Nick Khan played in his return to the promotion, saying the WWE President “got the ball rolling.”
