Matt Cardona details how Nick Khan paved way for WWE return
A conversation with Nick Khan is what got the ball rolling on Matt Cardona’s WWE return.
The former Zack Ryder officially returned to WWE at the start of 2026 and is now a member of the SmackDown roster. Before re-signing with the company, he competed in the Last Time is Now Tournament in 2025 and crossed over into NXT as part of the TNA invasion storyline.
On a new episode of Cody Rhodes’ “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast, Cardona noted that he was not under contract with TNA when he worked that NXT match in October 2025. His wife Chelsea Green was in Saudi Arabia doing media shortly after and asked WWE President Nick Khan if he saw the match. That conversation resulted in Khan telling Green to have Cardona reach out to him.
“So I’m working for TNA but not technically like under contract. And TNA does the invasion of NXT, and they asked to have me. And I know I’m not under contract, but I’m like, I’m going to sneak in. Sure, I’ll do it,” Cardona said.
“I do that, leads to a match. And Chelsea was doing, I guess, media for [Royal] Rumble in Saudi. And Nick Khan was there. She said to Nick something like, ‘Did you see my husband wrestle on NXT?’ Nick said something like, ‘I’ve always wanted to meet your husband, talk to your husband, give him my number.’ 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 want to come back.’ And the ball kind of got rolling from there.”
Cardona said there were some ups and downs in the process after that, but the conversation with Khan is what paved the way for his return.
After being released by WWE in 2020, Cardona rebuilt himself during an indie run where he starred for promotions like Game Changer Wrestling. Now that he’s back in WWE, Cardona still hopes to accomplish his childhood dream of winning the WWE World Championship.
“I mean, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be the WWE champ. That’s the title. I think you and I are alike,” he told Rhodes. “We didn’t just want to be wrestlers, we didn’t just want to be WWE Superstars — we wanted to be the WWE Champion. So, why not swing for it? That’s the goal ever since I was a little kid.”
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.