Matt Cardona talks John Cena tournament, returning to WWE, wife Chelsea Green, and more

Matt Cardona sat down with Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, FL to discuss returning to WWE after almost 6 years away, his 2025 return as Zack Ryder in the John Cena tournament, possibly teaming up with his wife Chelsea Green, only needing the WWE Championship to be a Grand Slam Champion, how much his figure collection is worth, and more!

I know that it was your goal throughout the Indies to like find a way to get back to WWE.

“Yes and no. So when I get fired, my knee-jerk reaction isn’t, what do I got to do to get back there? I couldn’t live my life that way. But we’re very big on what we’re grateful for, goal setting. One of the goals was always to be the WWE Champion. You can’t be the WWE Champion unless you’re WWE, right? So I had to get back there. But it wasn’t like from day one ‘I’m gonna prove them wrong, I’m gonna get back there.’ No, and I say this all the time too. I didn’t want to prove people wrong. I didn’t care about that. I wanted to prove myself and my fans right, and I feel like I did.”

Did you feel like you were always confident there was gonna be a path that led you back to a WWE contract?

“At one point I thought there’s no way I’m getting back, because I was doing everything. Indie Wrestler of the Year, cover of PWI, I was with Seth De Lander at the time because Chelsea had gone back, and I texted Steph. I said, ‘You need to get away from me because I’m holding you down. There’s no way I’m ever going back.’ Because if not now, when?”

So how did this first call come for the John Cena tournament when Zack Ryder returns to WWE?

“So from September to when I redebut in January, it’s like a mindf*ck for me. It was such a whirlwind of things. I’m definitely gonna mix up the timeline a bit. But it starts in September, I believe. I’m doing TNA, but I’m not signed to TNA. I’m asked if I want to participate in the NXT invasion, go invade NXT. I’m like, well, if they think I really work for TNA. I went there and I got paid, right? But I didn’t have a contract. I’m like, I’ll sneak my way in here. So I did the invasion, which led to a match with Josh Briggs. I said, all right, that’s cool. I texted Triple H, ‘Thank you for the opportunity.’ He texted back. It was all good. Shortly thereafter, maybe within that week, Chelsea was in Saudi Arabia doing media for the Royal Rumble, and she was there with Nick Khan and said something to the effect of, ‘Did you see my husband on NXT?’ He said something like, ‘I’ve never met him. Give him my number.’ So she did. I called him or texted him immediately. ‘Hey, it’s Matt Cardona, blah blah blah…’ I think it’s that day or the next day he calls me, and he’s very straight to the point, which I love and respect. He said, ‘What do you want?’ I want to come back. It was as simple as that. He’s like, ‘Okay, well, we need to set up a call with you and Triple H.’ This is great. Here we go. That week we have a FaceTime with Triple H, or Zoom call, whatever, and it was a good call, but it wasn’t a good call. You know what I’m saying? I’m like, there’s nothing here. There was no offer to come back. It was just a very friendly, civil, respectful call. I’m like, all right, well, I guess back to being the indie god, whatever.”

Were you thinking should I have asked for a job on this call?

“I definitely said I was interested in coming back, but there was no, ‘Yeah, we want to have you back.’ There was no, ‘Here’s your offer. ‘There was none of that, right? A couple of weeks go by, and he texted me, ‘Hey, do you have time to talk today?’ I’m like, yep, and that’s when he pitched me the Cena tournament thing. I said I’m in, and I’m assuming that I’m going to do this representing TNA as Matt Cardona. So SmackDown films Fridays. You fly out Thursdays. Tuesday of that week I get a text from John Cone from WWE Talent Relations, and he’s like, ‘Hey, we got some T-shirts for you to approve.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s cool, but how do you guys have my Matt Cardona logos?’ It’s like, ‘Oh no, you’re Zack Ryder.’ I’m thinking, oh f*ck. Not that I don’t want to be Zack Ryder. I don’t have any gear, because what am I gonna wear? Everything else I sold off, so everything that I had was either one-off, like WrestleMania title win gear or stuff that was all falling apart because it’s years old. I’m like, oh no, luckily always ready. Got gear made in 24 hours, and then did the Cena tournament as Zack Ryder.”

Why were you Zack Ryder in that tournament?

“I have no idea, and I didn’t care. I brought both outfits. I said, You just tell me which one to put on.”

At this point, did you know this was just a one-off? Even though you had had conversations with Triple H and Nick Khan.

“It was an absolute one-off. I was hidden in a room all day, so I didn’t talk to anybody before the match besides the producer and LA Knight, obviously. And I said, ‘You just tell me which gear to put on, because I got them both.’ Always ready. And then they said, Zack Ryder. I said, ‘Let’s go, let’s do it.’ Sold some shirts. The Woo Woo Woo, all that, and it was a great experience. I thought, if this is it, this is perfect closure.”

So then, when you do end up getting signed, how do you make it to your Matt Cardona?

“Okay, so then I think it’s a one-off. I get the Triple H point, which is great. I sold some 8 x 10s with that. Thank you, Triple H. He’s like, we’ll keep in touch, and they did. About a few weeks later, I was at WrestleCade, so I guess after Thanksgiving, I’m eating dinner with the boys after signing all day and a match, and I got a call like, ‘We wanna sign you.’ I’m thinking, okay. I’m just assuming it’s as Zack Ryder so I get all this new Zack Ryder gear made, blah blah blah. Then a week or so before my debut I hear through the grapevine you’re gonna be Matt Cardona. Now I’m like oh sh*t I need new Matt Cardona gear. But I am very proud that they thought there was more value in Matt Cardona than Zack Ryder. Because who else has left [and come back with their non-WWE name]? Okay, Razor Ramon leaves, and he comes back as Scott Hall. He went to WCW. I did this all in the Indies. No one’s ever done that before. Gone to the Indies and come back as their indie persona.”

John Cena had some very nice things to say about you on social media after you were in the John Cena tournament.

“You know what? I don’t know for sure, but I would assume he has something to do with me getting in that tournament. I’m just assuming. He is somebody I always ask for advice. Even back in the day, he was a big help in the Z True Long Island Story days. But even before that, he was always the guy. He’s the champ, and he’s at the monitor watching every match at a house show, and giving advice, giving feedback. To this day, I believe if I called him or anyone else on the roster that he doesn’t even have a personal relationship with, he’d be there for them.”

What do you think makes Chelsea so good at what she does?

“Because she’s authentic and she doesn’t try to BS anybody, and the fans can see that. And also, she has a connection with the audience. Some people have it naturally. Some people have to figure out a way to get it, but she has it. Once you have a connection with the audience, you’re set.”

Do you think that it could work if you and Chelsea Green were paired together in WWE?

“I mean, I would love that. Some of my greatest times in my career were when we were on the Indies together. It was just the best, like traveling together, and it just made the matches so much easier. Especially as me being a heel, I have this valet, and also she could wrestle, so we could do mixed tag team matches, and then she can get involved physically. It was the perfect formula.”