John Cena comments on Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) returning to WWE

As seen during the November 14th 2025 edition of WWE SmackDown, Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) made his return to WWE in a “Last Time is Now” tournament match against LA Knight. After a back and forth match, Knight picked up the victory with a BFT.

While speaking on the RAW Recap, John Cena discussed Ryder returning…

“I was very, very glad to see Zack Ryder come back. Matt is a personal friend of mine, I can speak candidly like that, and I’ve seen his mind grow. You wanna talk about always being curious and the quest for growth, the Zack Ryder I knew from a long time ago has accrued so much sports entertainment wisdom. It’s amazing when we have interactions, he’ll tell me about his journey and be like ‘this is what you were trying to talk about before and I wasn’t ready to understand it.’”

“I like rooting for people who are humble enough to admit when they’re wrong, and always want to grow, and are doing things for the greater good of the business. Matt is certainly one of those guys, his wife, Chelsea (Green), is one of those folks, who take an opportunity and get the absolute best out of it. I was really happy to see Zack Ryder back.” (quotes courtesy of WrestleTalk.com)