Matt Cardona, formerly known as Zack Ryder, has recently teased his return to WWE after more than four years. The 39-year-old star was last seen inside the WWE ring on the March 9, 2020, episode of Monday Night RAW, where he faced Bobby Lashley in a losing effort. Cardona was released from his contract on April 15, 2020, due to COVID-19 budget cuts.
The speculation of Cardona’s return began when Cody Rhodes, during the latest episode of NXT, announced a 25-man Battle Royal to determine the next opponent for the NXT Championship. Rhodes mentioned that some of the participants might be from different locker rooms, which caught Cardona’s attention. He posted a photo of himself on Twitter, teasing a huge return to WWE after 1,525 days.
Matt Cardona and Adam Copeland (Via AEW/Twitter)
During a recent interview, Matt Cardona mentioned that he had several people in mind whom he would want to face upon his potential return to WWE. He said, “There’s so many people. I can plug myself into almost any situation. Let’s say Sami Zayn, IC Title. Come for that title, I had it for a day. Now I want it back, I want a real run with it. Cody Rhodes, WWE Champ. You know, our friendship, it’s pretty obvious, it’s pretty public. Maybe we flip the script on that.”
However, Cardona is currently recovering from a torn pec injury, which makes his potential participation in the 25-man Battle Royal on next week’s episode of NXT seem doubtful. Nonetheless, the tease of his return has created excitement among the WWE universe, and it will be interesting to see if The Indy God will return to the Stamford-based promotion soon.
