“It bothered me” – WWE star did not like Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens’ joke about him

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Owens playfully mocked Cardona, saying he was his favourite indie wrestler but later said that Cardona shouldn’t expect a call from WWE after his initial release in 2020 if he loves the indies.

Cardona re-signed to the Stamford-based promotion in January 2026 under his real name (he was formerly known as Zack Ryder) and has now spoken out about his honest thoughts on the remarks that were made about him by Owens and Rhodes in the aforementioned interview.

He shared his true feelings on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast recently, saying that the statements bothered him because he wasn’t in WWE at the time and couldn’t share his side of the story. He also said that he is over it now despite being bothered by the remarks at first.

“Honestly, I was pissed, because they made it seem that all I would say is I wanted to be back in WWE. I’d only talk about it when I’d be doing things like this, and you ask me a question. It bothered me, but I’m over it now. Yes, it wasn’t malicious; I just did not appreciate that I didn’t get a chance to come on and tell my version until I got re-signed, ” said Cardona.

Matt Cardona will miss out on WWE SummerSlam

Since Matt Cardona re-signed with WWE in 2026, he has had a string of losses. Most recently, he was a part of a rare victory in a tag team match with Danhausen against Los Garza on SmackDown a few weeks ago.

Apart from being involved in the Danhausen angle, Cardona has only made appearances in other wrestlers’ feuds; for instance, the one between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes ahead of WrestleMania 42 because he is friends with both men. But he failed to leave a mark, as Orton used him as a punching bag to cement himself as a vicious heel and send a message to Cody Rhodes.

The matches for SummerSlam have now been finalized, and Matt Cardona is not on the card. The former Intercontinental and United States Champion certainly has the skills and the moves to be a big player in the company and has been successful in the independent circuit, but for whatever reason, the company has not decided to start pushing him yet.

Cardona’s wife, Chelsea Green, is set to feature at SummerSlam, where she will be a part of a 5 woman ladder match to determine the interim WWE Women’s Champion in the current champion Rhea Ripley’s absence.