Former WWE superstar Matt Cardona, aka Zack Ryder, recently told Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast that when he was released from WWE earlier this year, he was ultimately relieved. Although he expected to get his notice that day since the promotion was in the midst of massive budget cuts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, he welcomed it.
“Inside I was begging for it, please. Please let this happen because, for over a year, I hadn't signed a new contract. I was debating, do I stay [or] do I go because like you said, I felt like a lifer there,” he said.
Cardona, who made his professional wrestling debut in 2004, teaming with Curt Hawkins on the independent circuit, was signed along with Hawkins by WWE the following year. Both made their main roster debuts in 2007. While at WWE, Cardona held the WWE Intercontinental Championship and the WWE United States Championship, as well as winning the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship with Hawkins twice.
When he was informed that he had been released, he was excited to move on. “Even me saying it right now seems ridiculous. It seems untrue, but that's the truth right there. I was so happy and so excited for the future," he said.
Cardona didn’t have to wait long before getting back to work. On July 29, 2020, he made his AEW debut on Dynamite saving Cody from an attack by Alex Reynolds and John Silver of The Dark Order after his TNT Championship match against Warhorse. He then made his in-ring debut on the August 5 Dynamite, teaming up with Cody to defeat Reynolds and Silver.
Asked whether it was true that many top WWE stars had contacted AEW to express an interest in joining the company, Cardona said he has no inside information. He did, however, say that he wouldn’t blame anyone for wanting to get out. He believes AEW is the place to be right now. After 14 years with WWE, he said he felt like the "new kid at school" when he arrived at AEW.
Although he was familiar with most of the wrestlers, he hadn’t worked with them before. “It was kind of weird because now I introduce myself to these people who I felt like I already knew, but everyone was super cool, and they treated me like I've been there the whole time, which I appreciate that a lot," he said.
Although he has only signed a short-term deal with AEW, he would like to stay on longer. In the meantime, he will be focused on his podcast with Curt Hawkins about wrestling figures called The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, which was launched in 2018.
Source: Wrestling Inc