Matt Cardona believes leaving WWE can be a sink-or-swim situation for wrestlers.
Cardona experienced a career resurgence following his WWE departure in 2020, reinventing himself on the independent scene and working for several promotions before eventually returning to the company.
During a recent interview with Jeremy Jacobowitz, Cardona reflected on finding himself outside WWE while acknowledging that not everyone who leaves the company will experience the same success.
“Leaving WWE is where I found myself, right? And it’s certainly a sink-or-swim environment. So yes, do I think a lot of people would benefit? Sure.
“I also think a lot of people would fall on their face and flop because some of the people online, you know, they would say to me like, ‘Oh, you’re only successful on the indies because you came from WWE,’” Cardona shared.
Cardona pushed back on that argument by pointing out that plenty of wrestlers have been released by WWE without going on to achieve similar success elsewhere. He credited his WWE experience with giving him valuable tools, but said it was up to him to put those lessons to use.
“Well, then where’s everyone else who ever got fired? You know what I’m saying? Yeah, it helps that I learned so much from WWE, but I took what I learned and I, you know, used that and utilized that on the outside because if everyone who was fired was a success outside WWE, where are all these people? You know what I’m saying?”
Cardona was released by WWE in 2020, ending his lengthy run with the company as Zack Ryder. He subsequently began performing under his real name and established himself as a prominent name on the independent scene while also making appearances for TNA and AEW.
After several years away from WWE, Cardona returned to the company in 2025 before signing a new contract in 2026.
