New AEW star Matt Cardona (formerly Zack Ryder) recently spoke to WrestlingINC about a variety of topics from his career. Long Island Iced Z discussed in particular his popularity following the Z True Long Island Story series that exploded on YouTube back in the early 2010s.
Following the success of his show, WWE seemingly took advantage of that popularity and gave Ryder a run with the United States Championship. However, beyond that Ryder’s WWE career appeared to completely bottom out and he never again reached the same heights in his tenure with the company.
Matt Cardona on WWE
Cardona made the following comments regarding the idea that WWE ‘resented’ his popularity online:
“Here’s the thing, who knows, right? People speculated at times, even I speculated, but there’s no proof of that. At the end of the day, I was given an opportunity. I was put on TV because for the longest time, I was doing the YouTube show, selling all this merch without getting the opportunity, and then I was given the opportunity. So I was on TV. I got what I asked for. I won the U.S. Title, and then things didn’t exactly go my way. You know what, I could have knocked on somebody’s door and asked, ‘hey what’s going on here?’ But I didn’t do that. So I blame me. I don’t blame anyone else for what happened in 2012, I don’t live in the past and say what if. I try not to be bitter because what’s that going to do? It’s not going to change anything. You’re not going to be happier.”
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credit WrestlingINC for the transcription
