Matt Cardona isn’t sure why WWE hasn’t brought him back yet.
Zack Ryder hasn’t been in WWE since 2020. He’s made a name for himself on the indie scene and has seen a tremendous amount of success under his real name. Despite that, the “Indy God” has said he’s open to returning to the company under the right circumstances. Cardona has appeared in AEW and TNA since then, but he has not received an offer to return to WWE. The lack of an offer has left Cardona surprised, as he recently told Chris Van Vliet on Insight.
“Honestly? Yeah. But obviously I’m missing something, I don’t know what it is. Listen, people say to me all the time, especially since we just had WrestleMania, WrestleCon. Thousands of people, probably every other fan, if not every fan. ‘When are you coming back?’ Well, it’s not up to me. Or at the WrestleMania Hotel. Thanks, Chelsea for letting me stay in a hotel room for free. Saved me some money. Great hotel. Great Steakhouse, too.
“But so many people from the office or other wrestling, ‘Hey, man, when are you coming back?’ It’s like, I don’t know. I’ve reached out many times. I shouldn’t say many, a few times, every couple months when something cool happens or I have something to say, hey, look what I’m doing. There’s been no offer. Everything’s very nice, professional, but there’s no offer. And you know what, it is what it is, I’m gonna keep working my ass off.”
Matt Cardona knows some Zack Ryder fans might not follow him on the indies
Cardona continued, noting that despite his success, some fans might not know his indie work because they only watch WWE.
“On the flip side, there are fans that have no idea what I’m doing now. I’m at WrestleCon, [fans say], ‘Where you been, Zack?’ Well, all over the world for the past five years. But I don’t blame them, because times have changed, but I was the biggest wrestling fan growing up. I didn’t watch indie wrestling. It was different then, there was no internet, there was no streaming stuff. So I get some people just watch WWE, and that’s fine.”
Matt Cardona was asked what was missing from his WWE run that he has now. Cardona said he would’ve liked a chance to work more as a heel, which he’s excelled at on the indies. Despite not having that opportunity, Cardona sees being fired by WWE as a blessing because it allowed him to find himself.
