Matt Cardona Says He’s Having Fun Doing Creative Stuff Again, Explains the Idea Behind the ‘Gratitude Era’ Promos

– Pro Wrestling Junkies recently spoke to former WWE Superstar Matt Cardona (aka Zack Ryder), who discussed his career and more. Below are some highlights (h/t WrestlingInc.com).

Matt Cardona on how times have changed in the business: “The times have changed now. When we first broke into the business, especially in WWE, it was guys like The Undertaker and JBL who are grown ass men. They didn’t grow up playing with wrestling figures. There were no wrestling figures for them to play with growing up, so they had no sentimental attachment to it. They didn’t grow up with the cartoons, the ice cream, the bed sheets and wrestling buddies. Now, the younger guys have kind of come in, and we’re all around the same age, and everyone remembers the wrestling buddies and watching on Saturday mornings,” Cardona added. “It’s a little bit more accepted now. You have guys in the back playing video games. Xavier Woods is blowing up with Up, Up, Down, Down, and everyone is Twitching and all that stuff. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. Whatever you like is all good. It’s not like the 40-year old virgin anymore.”

Cardona on being away from WWE: “It was just one of those things that the stuff I did on my own definitely worked and established longevity with my career. It got me noticed. I’m just someone that’s always creative, and I hate sitting back and doing nothing. Now that I’m out of WWE and the handcuffs are off, it’s so much fun to be able to do this creative stuff again.”

Cardona on the approach for his and Curt Hawkins’ “Gratitude Era” promos: “I’m one who always wants to put the blame on myself. I never want to look back and say they held me down or didn’t push me. That doesn’t do anything. Towards the end with Hawkins, we were trying to push to be heels, and we tried to work it in to some backstage stuff where we were preaching about being in the ‘Gratitude Era’, and be overly positive and cheesy to make people hate us. But we never really got the opportunity to do that; I wish we did, but we didn’t.”

His thoughts on AEW: “I was at AEW for a few weeks and the vibe was super cool. The atmosphere is really cool. If you wanted to talk to Tony Khan about something, I feel like he was very approachable. Tony always made me feel very comfortable and offered to be on the podcast, which is really cool. He made me feel very comfortable in a very short amount of time. I’ve had people comment on my appearance like I look more jacked and stuff, but honestly, I think it’s just the way they presented me. They presented me like a huge star, and I really appreciate that.”