Matt Cardona has revealed that returning to WWE actually meant taking a pay cut after building a lucrative career for himself on the independent wrestling scene.
Speaking with Jeremy Jacobowitz, the former Zack Ryder reflected on the approach he took following his initial WWE departure and why he was determined to reinvent himself rather than rely entirely on his previous success.
“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.”
Cardona’s post-WWE run saw him deliberately move away from the Zack Ryder character and establish a new identity under his real name, working for numerous promotions across the wrestling industry.
While Cardona acknowledged that he was earning more independently than he previously made in WWE, he views his return as a larger opportunity that could ultimately pay off both professionally and financially.
