It was recently spotted that Matt Cardona had attempted to trademark his former WWE name, Zack Ryder. However, he would go on to reveal in a tweet he’d missed out on it. And now, while speaking on Matt Hardy’s podcast, he has explained that WWE contacted his lawyer and put the block on him taking ownership. Additionally, he divulged the unusual reason he wanted the name in the first place, and it wasn’t to compete as Ryder on the indies but to wrestle himself in a cinematic match.
I tried to get the Zack Ryder trademark, it had lapsed. WWE had let it go, and I, and I tried to get it. I wasn’t going to be Zack Ryder on the indies. I wanted to film a Zack Ryder versus Matt Cardona cinematic match, you know, Matt versus Zack. I knew there was a chance WWE would try to stop that. They contacted my lawyer, and I said, 2Okay, you got it. I’m not fighting this.”
Matt CardonaUnder the name Zack Ryder, Cardona got over with WWE fans despite receiving very little television time thanks to his YouTube show True Long Island Story. Fans would chant “We Want Ryder” at shows, his merchandise would sell out, and he proclaimed himself the Internet Champion. Yet it’s believed that WWE management was annoyed with Cardona for getting himself over without their involvement, which is why he never received a sustained push. And for years, fans would call for him to quit the promotion, but likely due to having grown up as a diehard WWE fan and living his dream, he continued to make the best of what he was given.
WWE did, though, eventually release him in April 2020, forcing him to look for other employment possibilities. And since then, he has appeared briefly for AEW and then Impact Wrestling. Additionally, he made a foray into the world of deathmatch wrestling with GCW, becoming one of the most talked-about wrestlers online, giving him a legitimate claim as the Internet Champion. Nevertheless, his biggest non-WWE career highlight was last year when he became the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion by defeating Trevor Murdoch. Sadly though, he would have to vacate the title previously held by the likes of Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and Harley Race due to injury.
