Matt Cardona: WWE Thought The Name I Built On The Indies Was More Valuable Than Zack Ryder, I’m Proud Of That
Matt Cardona is proud of his name’s value.
When he returned to WWE at the beginning of 2026, many fans were excited to learn that Matt Cardona would not be reverting to the Zack Ryder ring name. In a new interview with Sports Illustrated, Cardona said that he is proud of the way he built his name on the indies.
“They wanted Matt Cardona. I’m proud of that. That they thought the Matt Cardona I built on the independents was more valuable than Zack Ryder. And I’m grateful for Zack Ryder, because without him and my previous time in WWE, there’s no Mat Cardona. Everything I learned, and not just putting matches together, but how to do interviews like this, how to market myself, how to sell merchandise, I learned it in WWE.”
Elsewhere in a separate interview, Cardona stated that he’d like to see action figures for some of the producers in WWE. Check out his full comments by clicking here.
Check out the current lineup for Friday’s episode of SmackDown by clicking here. Fightful will have full coverage of the show as it airs.
Special thanks to Sports Illustrated for the quote(s) in this interview.
