There are a lot of people responsible for the start of AEW. There's WWE for releasing Cody Rhodes, NJPW and the Bullet Club for allowing him to work with Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, Ring of Honor for helping to fund All Out, and most obviously of all, Tony Khan, who is the head honcho behind AEW going from an idea to Pay-Per-View-only indie promotion to a twice weekly television show that is capable of drawing million dollar gates.

But honestly, has anyone ever taken the time to give the proper props to Matt Cardona, the former member of the WWE Universe who revolutionized the YouTube vlog game under his Zack Ryder persona from 2011-13? If not, that's okay; Cardona stopped by the Not Sam Podcast to explain why Z! True Long Island Story is the true inspiration behind the Young Bucks' Being The Elite show and thus for AEW as a whole, as transcribed by Fightful.

“It changed the business,” Cardona declared. “Tell me that Z! True Long Island Story didn't change the business. Tell me to my face that it didn't change the business. All these kids vlogging. The BTE show that started AEW. Really, I'm responsible for AEW. I'll say it right now, without Z! True Long Island Story there would be no BTE and there would be no E…ah, let's do that again. This is live pal. We're live pal,” Cardona said with a laugh before trying again. “Without Z! True Long Island Story there would be no BTE and there would be no AEW. Quote me on that. Clickbait headline, Sean Ross Sapp gonna run with that, baby. I like Fightful Select, they have a good Patreon. If you want to get a really good Patreon, go to MajorMarks.com. You can listen to the Major Wrestler podcast early, bonus content, bonus interviews, bonus merch.”

Welp, there you go; shameless self-promotion aside, Cardona might actually have a point that his willingness to put himself out there on social media helped to launch the first true challenger to WWE in a generation, even if WWE is not trying to sign up their former stars to prevent them from landing in AEW. Chelsea Green is reportedly one of those Superstars, but what about her IRL husband, the aforementioned Matt Cardona? Would he ever bring back the Broski and return to his Ryder character in the WWE Universe? Nope, on Twitter, Cardona shut that one down for good.

Matt Cardona was self-conscious about not landing a full-time deal in AEW.

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Speaking with Slam Magazine about his short stint in AEW, Cardona admitted it wasn't a great feeling to see all of his friends sign full-time deals with TK's company while he wasn't extended the same opportunity.

“You watch that cup of coffee I had in AEW, and while I look great, had great matches, sold a ton of merch, what was that?” Cardona said. “And I don’t regret it one bit, right? Because that’s how you learn. That’s how you grow, that’s how you adapt. So, I didn’t get signed to AEW, and it forced me to go out there and continue to do other things, which led me to GCW.” And GCW led to his evolution into the Death Match King, which he said reinvented not only his career, but his life. He was forced to pivot. “I don’t regret that AEW didn’t work out,” he said. “At the time it sucked, you know? At the time, it was like, I was bummed out. Like, ‘Hey everyone else is getting signed, how come I’m not?’ “But it all worked out for the best because I found Impact, which got my confidence back. And once I found GCW and did all that stuff with Nick Gage and had the death match, just everything turned around.”

Now, for those who don't remember, Cardona debuted in AEW immediately after Rhodes' TNT Championship match with Warhorse, where he came out to defend his long-time friend from a beatdown by the Dark Order. Cardona then wrestled a tag team match with Rhodes against Alex Reynolds and John Silver on Dynamite before appearing in his second and final match with the promotion at All Out 2020, where he, Scorpio Sky, Dustin Rhodes, and QT Marshall wrestled a four-on-four match against Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Colt Cabana, and Mr. Brodie Lee, better known as the Dark Order.

Fortunately, since leaving AEW, Cardona has established himself as a “Deathmatch King” as the anti-hero of GCW, as a formidable tag team with Brian Meyers in Impact as the Major Players, and as the leader of The Cardona Family in NWA, where he works with Green, Meyers, VSK, and Mike Knox. Even if those opportunities combined don't have the same level of exposure as AEW, the former Zack Ryder has finally earned the indie cred that eluded him throughout his WWE run while having a very lucrative Patreon account to boot.