Matt Cardona Knew His Zack Ryder Gimmick Had To Go Before WWE Release

Matt Cardona, formerly known as Zack Ryder during his time in WWE, struggled to gain significant screen time and was unable to truly break out as a star there. He was eventually released by WWE in 2020 and went on to achieve greater success outside the organization. Cardona also knew he had to get rid of his Zack Ryder gimmick even before his WWE release.

Ringside News also exclusively reported that Matt Cardona is on WWE’s radar for a return. To the surprise of no one, fans have already started speculating if he will end up in WWE again or not. Cardona has made sure fans keep thinking about him.

On January 19th, Matt Cardona filed for trademarks on “WOO WOO WOO. YOU KNOW IT” for merchandise, toys, and entertainment purposes. Before that, he also registered a trademark for “Zack Ryder,” his old WWE name, last month.

These all made fans think about a possible WWE return as well. While speaking on Matt Hardy’s podcast, Matt Cardona talked about his time in WWE and noted that he knew he had to get rid of his Zack Ryder gimmick even before his WWE release.

“So even before I got let go from WWE, I knew the woo woo woo goofy sh*t had to change. I stopped wearing the headband, the glasses, got in great shape, and grew the beard. It’s like, you could pitch stuff all day, but you don’t write the show. I don’t have the pencil. I can try my best to express who I want to be, but unless you’re portrayed that way on television, it’s just not going to work. Not that I had handcuffs on, but when I was released by WWE, the handcuffs were off and I could just be me and try anything and throw it against the wall. I wish I could say this is all calculated, but it wasn’t. I was just fu**ing trying anything and taking any booking I could.”

“When that GCW deathmatch got presented to me, I said, ‘No fu**ing way. I’m not wrestling this fu**ing guy, this fu**ing criminal, this guy who’s on Dark Side of the Ring. There’s no fu**ing way I’m doing this backyard sh*t. Then I took a step back and I said, ‘Well, it will definitely create some buzz. People are gonna want to see Zack Ryder get carved up by Nick Gage.’ I didn’t anticipate how much buzz it would create and it changed everything for me. It changed my career, my life. That’s what I needed. That was the step that I needed to change from what people thought of Zack Ryder to the new Matt Cardona.” 

Matt Cardona’s wife Chelsea Green already appeared during the Royal Rumble Premium Live Event. Now it remains to be seen whether Cardona will follow suit in the future.

Do you want Cardona back in WWE? Sound off in the comments!