Though Matt Cardona is currently crushing it in Impact Wrestling, GCW, and NWA too, where he's held the Impact Digital Media Championship, the GCW World Championship, and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, respectively, there's one title that eluded “Alwayz Ready” since he began his professional wrestling journey 18 years ago: the WWE Championship.
That's right, despite spending 14 years in WWE and working 1,344 matches with the promotion, according to Cagematch, Cardona's biggest championship accomplishments in the promotion came in 2011 and 2016, when he won the United States Championship and then Intercontinental Championship at TLC 2011 and WrestleMania 32 respectively. Granted, he had a bit more success in tag team action with his long-time pal and current podcasting partner Curt Hawkins/Brian Myers, where they had a pair of RAW Tag Team Championship reigns lasting a combined 127 days – 97 more days than his singles reigns combined – but there's no way Cardona would return to his old Zack Ryder character, let alone try for one of the top championships in a company that released him for nothing and then asked him to use his pool for a segment with Mandy Rose and Otis, right?
Fortunately, Chris Van Vliet invited Cardona on his Insight show for the umpteenth time to ask him just that, even if the Major Player wasn't all that interested in breaking any news.
“I appreciate you asking me this, but here's the truth, if I were to go back, I wouldn't reveal it here,” Cardona. “If I wasn't going back, I wouldn't reveal it here. I want people talking. The more people that are talking about Matt Cardona, the better for me. I'm the Internet Champion; then, now, and forever. Let them talk.”
Even if Cardona wasn't about to break any news on Van Vliet's show, he did sort of anyway, as he let it slip that he would like to make a jump to WWE after all if the opportunity was right.
“One goal, I've been saying for a long time, is to win the WWE Championship,” Cardona said. “That's not a lie. When I got released, the goal was not to get back to WWE. It wasn't like, ‘What can I do to make them notice me? What can I do to get back to WWE?' You can't think like that. I certainly can't. I would be lying if I said I never want to wrestle in Madison Square Garden again or I never want to have a WrestleMania match. Of course I do. WWE is number one. I'm not saying there is this plan to go back as soon as possible, but before I hang up the boots, I'd love to go back at least one time, for sure,” he said.
Would fans like to see the “Hardcore Legend” Cardona return to the glitz and glamour of WWE either under the Ryder name or as the character he's cultivated on the indies? Or could he flip his current character on his head and play “Matt Cardona, Indie Darling,” where he talks about fighting for all of the guys in bingo halls who get paid in hot dogs and handshakes? Either way, it sounds like The Cardonas might have an in back to the “big show,” as, according to Dave Meltzer, WWE may be looking to cast a new couples reality show and could use Cardona and his wife Chelsea Green – who is rumored to be back in WWE – on both shows.
“Whether this comes to fruition, there are talks with E! about a new reality show,” Meltzer said h/t Web is Jericho. “They are looking for legitimate wrestling couples. So some upcoming signings could relate to that if the project is finalized. The Matt Cardona name was mentioned as possible if the deal goes through since Chelsea Green is in.”
Matt Cardona has one condition to his WWE return.
While Cardona sounds respective to the idea of returning to WWE, he does have one condition he'd like met before re-joining the promotion.
“I mean, if it was up to me, if I would ever go back it would be as me, ‘Alwayz Ready' Matt Cardona,” Cardona said. “Now if there was going to be a surprise run in or Royal Rumble something, if the Alwayz Ready music hit or the Woo Woo, hit which one would get a bigger pop? I understand Zack Ryder, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to live in the past.”
“You know, I’m saying like, I’m 37 years old, I’m in the prime of my career. I mean, listen, I always say like the PWI 500 Doesn’t matter unless you’re number one or number 13, and I was number 13. Which, you know what? I’m very very proud of that. The only unsigned guy in the top 20, I think it’s pretty damn cool, that you know that I’m being able to do GCW, IMPACT, NWA, all these random indies of all over the world and doing it on my terms. It’s so much fun.”
Is Cardona correct? Would “Alwayz Ready” generate a bigger pop than a few “Woo Woo Woos” before “Radio” plays over the loudspeakers? It's impossible to know, but either option would surely generate a massive reaction from any crowd lucky enough to hear it, as WWE fans love it when a former superstar returns home bigger, stronger, and ready-er.
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