Matt Cardona says returning to WWE actually meant taking a pay cut after he made more money on the independent scene than he did during his first run with the company.
Cardona returned to WWE as a full-time member of the SmackDown roster in January, nearly six years after his release. During an interview with Jeremy Jacobowitz, Cardona reflected on rebuilding his career and said he was determined not to simply live off his previous WWE success.
“So, when I got released, fired from WWE, like it was the greatest day of my life,” Cardona said. “And I knew then I had three options because I’m a student of the game. I see what happens when people leave WWE.
“You could fade into obscurity, which I wasn’t going to do. You can, you know, just be bitter, negative, fade into obscurity, or you can like just coast off your WWE name forever.”
Cardona said he had no interest in continuing to rely on the character and catchphrases that made him famous during his first WWE run, instead setting out to reinvent himself.
“And I don’t mean like the literal name,” Cardona continued. “Like Honky Tonk Man is still doing the shake, rattle and roll, and I love that and it’s great and I love Honky, but I didn’t want to still do the woo woo woo on the indies. I wanted to create something new.
“And that was what I decided, okay, I’m going to reinvent myself and I’m going to change the Matt Cardona game. I’m going to reinvent myself in a way that, like, yeah, hopefully WWE wants me back. But if they don’t, that’s fine.”
That reinvention also proved lucrative. Cardona claimed he ultimately earned more money outside WWE than he had during his original run with the company, to the point that signing his new WWE deal meant accepting less money initially.
“And, you know, I made more money outside WWE than I ever made in WWE,” Cardona said. “Like I technically took a pay cut to go back to WWE. You know what I’m saying? That’s how much money I was making on the indies.
“But WWE going back, it’s the ultimate opportunity because if it works out it’ll be the ultimate raise, right? Like I’m sitting here talking to you because WWE set this up.”
Also during the interview, Matt Cardona questioned why more released wrestlers haven’t found success outside of WWE while addressing claims that his post-WWE run was only successful because he spent so much time in the company.
