Matt Cardona On How His WWE Return Happened, Goals Now That He’s Back

Matt Cardona recently reflected on how he arranged his WWE return and said his goal is to be WWE Champion. Cardona made his return on the first WWE Smackdown of 2026. The return came after he had appeared on NXT last year through the TNA and WWE relationship, then appeared on Smackdown as Zack Ryder during the John Cena “Last Time Is Now” Tournament.

Cardona appeared on What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes and recalled how his return happened. He noted that Chelsea Green spoke with Nick Khan about Cardona coming back which led to a call between them. He also noted that becoming WWE Champion is still his ultimate goal in the company. You can see highlights below:

On How His WWE Return Happened:

“So I’m working for TNA, but not technically under contract. And TNA does the invasion of NXT. And they ask to have me, and I know I’m not under contract but I’m like, ‘I’m gonna sneak in.’ I’ll do it. Do that, leads to a match. And Chelsea was doing, I guess, media for Rumble in Saudi. And Nick Khan was there. And she said to Nick something like, ‘You see my husband wrestle at NXT?’ And Nick said something like, “I’ve always wanted to. meet your husband, talk to your husband. Give him my number.’ So she gave me Nick Khan’s number. You know I’m texting immediately. And then, Nick called me right there, said, ‘What do you want?’ I said, ‘I wanna come back.’ And the ball kinda got rolling from there.”

On His Goals Now That He’s Back:

“Man, fortunate to be Tag Team Champion twice. US Champ, IC Champ, I believe you were in the match, so technically I beat you. I mean, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wanna be the WWE Champ. That’s the title. I think you and I are alike. We didn’t just wanna be wrestlers, we didn’t just wanna be WWE superstars. We wanted be WWE Champion. So why not swing for it?

“I mean, that’s the goal ever since I was a little kid. And you know, when I got fired, when I got released, like, it wasn’t, ‘How am I gonna get back there?’ Of course, it’s always in the back of my mind. But every day I list like my goals in my head. And that number one goal is be WWE champion. You can’t be the WWE champion unless you’re in WWE. So I had to get back there.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit What Do You Wanna Talk About? with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.