Vince McMahon Was Angry About Showing Matt Cardona’s Dad During WrestleMania

Zack Ryder had a huge WrestleMania moment where he pulled down the IC Title. They also showed his dad in the crowd, but Vince McMahon wasn’t clued in on that part.

Matt Cardona recently made an appearance on the Wrestling Perspective podcast. During the conversation, Cardona revealed that Vince McMahon was initially angry that the production team showed Cardona’s father on camera after Cardona’s Intercontinental Championship victory at WrestleMania 32.

At WrestleMania 32 Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) won the Intercontinental Championship in a seven man ladder match to open the show. Cardona’s career in WWE had gone far worse than many fans hoped for after his massive rise in popularity in 2011. He also revealed that Road Dogg hearing that Ryder’s music was never previously played during WrestleMania was what won him over.

After Cardona grabbed the championship belt and won the match Cardona was shown celebrating in the ring with his father. According to Cardona, McMahon was initially furious speaking on the headset after the celebration was shown. After McMahon was informed that the man in the ring was Cardona’s father he was fine with the in ring celebration.

Cardona’s title win at WrestleMania was seen as shocking by many fans as many had given up hope of Cardona ever being pushed. Cardona said that there were a lot of “Boo Boo faces” in the room when he was informed that he would be winning the title.

Matt Cardona was released by WWE in April 2020. Since being released, Cardona has seen much success in his wrestling career. Cardona has made appearances in AEW and Impact Wrestling as well as headlining GCW’s Homecoming show where he defeated Nick Gage to become the new GCW World Champion.

h/t to Wrestling Perspective for the quotes