Matt Cardona: “I technically took a pay cut to go back to WWE”
While speaking to Jeremy Jacobowitz, Matt Cardona (formerly Zack Ryder) talked about his journey back to WWE. Here is what Cardona had to say…
“I see what happens when people leave WWE. You could fade into obscurity, which I wasn’t going to do. You can, you know, just be bitter, negative, and fade into obscurity, or you can just coast off your WWE name forever.
And I don’t mean the literal name, like Honky Tonk Man still doing the Shake, Rattle, and Roll, the jump. And I love that, and it’s great, and I love Honky, but I didn’t want to still do the ‘Woo Woo Woo’ on the indies. I wanted to create something new. And that was what I decided: Okay, I’m going to reinvent myself, and I’m going to change the Matt Cardona game.
You know, I’m going to reinvent myself in a way that, yeah, hopefully WWE wants me back. But if they don’t, that’s fine. And, you know, I made more money outside WWE than I ever made in WWE. Like, I technically took a pay cut to go back to WWE. You know what I’m saying? That’s how much money I was making on the indies.
But WWE coming back with this is the ultimate opportunity, because if it works out, it’ll be the ultimate raise, right? Like, I’m sitting here talking to you because WWE set this up.”