GCW helped lead the ‘Indie God’ back to WWE.
On January 2, Matt Cardona answered Kit Wilson’s open challenge on Friday Night SmackDown and was officially announced as having returned to WWE as a member of the roster, bringing an end to his highly memorable run on the independent scene.
Appearing on The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, Cardona revealed that when he put pen to paper on his WWE return, he had the GCW World Championship on his lap, highlighting the importance of that chapter of his career in shaping where he is today.
“When I signed my WWE contract, I signed it with my GCW title on my lap. If it wasn’t for GCW, I wouldn’t be the Indie God. If I wasn’t the Indie God, I wouldn’t be back in WWE. I firmly believe that. When I got fired, I looked at that picture of me and my dad at WrestleMania and when I got rehired, I was holding that GCW Title. I’m very sentimental about that.”
-Matt Cardona
Having been released by WWE in April 2020 after spending over fifteen years as Zack Ryder, Cardona moved to the independent scene under his real name and quickly established himself as a major figure across several promotions, most notably Game Changer Wrestling.
Cardona would return to WWE during the November 14 edition of SmackDown, reverting to the Zack Ryder name as he fell short to LA Knight in the first round of the Last Time is Now tournament, though despite an initial teaser, it appears that this time around it will be the ‘Indie God’ on our screens on Friday nights.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Matt Cardona’s return to WWE as soon as we hear more.
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
