WWE decided to let Matt Cardona go after he turned down a five year deal with the promotion.
Matt Cardona is seen as a success story outside WWE. While he has not reached the heights of other former WWE superstars such as Cody Rhodes, he has left his mark on the industry and continues to work the independent wrestling circuit for several promotions.
During a recent interview with Good Journeys, Matt Cardona addressed the reaction to his WWE release and how the release came to be.
“Well, I did not see it coming leading up to that. But that morning, at the time worked for WWE, all the talent got a video message from Vince McMahon basically saying that there would be some cuts. And once we got that message I knew, ‘okay, I’m probably gonna be one of the guys on that list.’ I didn’t know for sure. A year prior, WWE had offered I’d say pretty much everybody a new five-year contract with significantly more money. But I did not sign that contract because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay or go.”
“At that time I wasn’t sure like, ‘do I wanna stick around here? Do I wanna stay here for another five years?’ I wasn’t sure. And for an entire year I’d be back and forth negotiating the anxiety was weighing on me. Do I stay? Do I go? What do I do? Ultimately the decision was made for me. If I wasn’t released in April, my contract would’ve been up in August. So, that morning when Brian Myers gets the call, guys like Heath [Slater], Gallows, Anderson, I still had not gotten the call yet, and I was thinking to myself, ‘oh my God! Are they just gonna let me rot until August?’ At that point I was like, ‘please, call me and fire me. Please, so at least I can get my life started.’ So, the call eventually came and I needed it. The weight was lifted off my shoulder.”
Matt Cardona
Cardona’s wife Chelsea Green returned to WWE at the 2023 Royal Rumble and has been a member of the WWE women’s roster since. We will have to wait and see if Cardona will make his way back to WWE in the near future.
H/T to Ringside News
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