During the latest edition of The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder) reflected on his surprise return to WWE that took place last week on Friday Night SmackDown. Cardona returned as Zack Ryder, competing in The Last Time Is Now Tournament against LA Knight.
While the appearance was reportedly a one-night-only deal, Cardona revealed that he did sign a short-term merchandise agreement with WWE, allowing the company to release new Zack Ryder gear.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On now knowing which music WWE was going to play: “I did not know what they were going to play. I knew they were not going to be playing ‘Alwayz Ready,’ but I’m like, well, what version of it are they going to be playing? I kind of like the one, the Downstait version they played, but I had no clue until it hit. One day, I will go into a whole deep dive about that day, the week leading up. It was probably the most stressful week of my life. Don’t want to reveal all the secrets. One thing I would — Yeah, I’m not going to reveal it all now, but what a what a homecoming, I guess. And all the tweets and the posts and the texts. The merch.”
On his new merchandise contract with WWE: “Well, you know, I did sign something to let them do merch temporarily. So, there could be, I mean, could there be a Mattel figure? Could there be a Topps card? Oh, if you go to Topps now, then I’ll be jealous. It’s really up to them, right? Like I’ve given them the rights temporarily. Great experience, great night, you know, five years. It’s been over five years.”
On getting Shotzi’s husband to fix his old Zack Ryder boots: “I had to, with 24 hours’ notice, get Zack Ryder gear made because all the gear that I had wasn’t something I’d want to wear. But I did use my old boots, and they were like ripped. The straps were ripped. I had to get Shotzi’s husband, Jesus, to fix them. I went to his house and dropped them off. It was actually TTD suggestion, like, ‘Hey, I know Jesus does a lot of Shotzi’s jacket. I think he could do it.’ I said, ‘I’ll ask.’ And he could, but I didn’t let I didn’t fill him in on what was going on. Just said, ‘Hey, can you fix these?’ And he didn’t put two and two together till after the fact. Like, I was wondering why there was a ZR in the boots, but he didn’t even put two and two together. Like I didn’t tell anybody.”
On how WWE kept the surprise hidden: “Literally the day of, you know, I flew into New York City because I didn’t want to fly into — they didn’t want me flying into Albany, you know, because all the fans wait out there for the autographs. Flew into New York City, but luckily, Chelsea was on like Good Day New York anyway. So, I went with Chelsea to Good Day New York and then just drove up with her. Was hidden. I don’t know if we have the picture. It was like I went into — I had my own private room. What on earth? In like head-to-toe hoodies. COVID mask will be on WhatNot tonight. Private dressing room. A very, very stressful day because I didn’t want anybody to know about this. I don’t know, you tell you tell one person, they tell one person. So, you know, great, great experience being back. You know, for now, you know, it’s a one-time thing. Hey guys, there’s merch on WWE Shop. Buy it. Please buy all three shirts. Maybe it won’t be a one-time thing.”
On how last-minute his appearance was: “I do want to — It was so last-minute that TTD couldn’t design gear for me. That’s how last-minute it was because of the time zone, man. You know what I’m saying? Like that’s how last-minute it was. So, thank God, Rick Michaels, I will say this. I like dealing with TTD for designs better than Rick Michaels because it was like pulling teeth to get this together. That’s his — TDD is the man. So, obviously, these are, you know, it’s a very TDD-inspired off old gear that I had, but it was done in 24 hours. I was like, is this going to show up to the New York City hotel? And it did. Thank God. I had like Matt Cardona gear, that first of all, I had Matt Cardona gear just in case I was Matt Cardona. I had this, and then I had like makeshift Zack Ryder gear from Matt Cardona. Sorry, makeshift Zack Ryder gear from Matt Cardona gear that didn’t have an MC on it, just in case this didn’t show up. So, I had three sets of gear with me. It was wild.”
