[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome everyone to SI Media with Jimmy Traina.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening.

[SPEAKER_01]: Bonus episode.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've got independent wrestler and he's way more than that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Matt Cardone is on the podcast first time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've wanted to be with him for a while.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's always been a huge fan.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's back in his WWE days.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's that writer.

[SPEAKER_01]: And for those of you obviously are wrestling fans, you know that Mac Cardona has carved out this unbelievable post WWE career on the independence scene.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we get into all that, get into his time in WWE, whether he wants to go back there, his wife is in WWE.

[SPEAKER_01]: what it's been like on the independent scene.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was also now working at Sirius XM on their new twenty four seven pro wrestling nation channel.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we discussed that as well also get into John Cena mentioning him recently during a promo which caused a lot of buzz.

[SPEAKER_01]: So make sure you keep listening for that little conversation because that was fun also in the in the land of pro wrestling.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm supposed to have Cody Rhodes on next week.

[SPEAKER_01]: I hope it happens.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is [SPEAKER_01]: It looks like it will happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: So stay tuned for that next week at other bonus portal of Codion.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if you missed any recent episodes of the regular editions of SI Media with Jimmy Trane to check them out, the NRELowski was on last week, Jeremy Shab two weeks ago.

[SPEAKER_01]: So make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate, and review it on Apple.

[SPEAKER_01]: And let's get to it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Matt Cardone right here, bonus episode of SI Media with Jimmy Trane.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right here, right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm SI Media with Jimmy Trane.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, joining me now, very excited to have this wrestler on the podcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like I know this guy, even though I don't because we're both from Long Island, but he has been in the business for a long time.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of stuff adding to his menu now because he's going to be on serious exams, busted radio every week, which we will discuss.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is Matt Cordona, Matt has gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good, how are you?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm well, appreciate you doing this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, fellow long Island guys, so I'll try not to, you know, make the whole pile.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've had MJF on a couple times and I ended up doing like twenty minutes on long Island and the non-New Yorkers get mad and the New Yorkers get hungry.

[SPEAKER_01]: So listen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now I got the five one six tattooed on my my shin, but I'm Orlando now for life a little Florida baby.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know you can't you can't say for life if you're.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but I'm here right now for my brother's wedding.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm on longality to work yard mario, but man, there's nothing better than, you know, I travel all year round.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing better than it being December.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you you're you're in Jim close.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like by the pool, you know, I'm sure.

[SPEAKER_01]: But you can't get the bagels and the pizza and the you can't I will say that there there.

[SPEAKER_00]: No good bagels.

[SPEAKER_00]: No good pizza.

[SPEAKER_00]: No good chicken palm.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll say that.

[SPEAKER_00]: No good heroes, whatever you call subs.

[SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't exist down there.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we got you admit that at least.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now you you've had one of the more fascinating wrestling careers, especially over the last.

[SPEAKER_01]: several years, you were in the WWE for a long time.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they let you go, you carve out this unbelievable career independence and other companies between the NTA and A, and the NAW.

[SPEAKER_01]: But you have so much other stuff going on.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have this podcast that's hugely, hugely successful.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now you're going to join Series XM.

[SPEAKER_01]: busted radio.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, let's say it open busted open busted open.

[SPEAKER_00]: You forgot my own toy company, too.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't [SPEAKER_00]: How many times do you think you go?

[SPEAKER_00]: Depends.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, my schedule is really busy.

[SPEAKER_00]: My wife's really busy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we'll go like once every two months.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then, you know, of course, it's in May.

[SPEAKER_00]: I find the family coming every single week.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, it depends.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't go enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't end my opinion.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's, that's fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would go every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love it there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll get, we'll get into half a little time wanting into sort of the wrestling stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: But let me, let's go.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's see, probably, because I said busted open busted radio, but it's actually now that July first, they changed it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's pro wrestling nation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, money for seven.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you're a new host on the channel, Series XM channel, pro wrestling nation, twenty four seven.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they basically dedicated it entire channel there.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's serious to pro wrestling.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tell everyone just what you're going to be doing and why you wanted to do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: What, what appeal to you?

[SPEAKER_01]: Cause like you said, you're ready busy.

[SPEAKER_01]: So what do you add in something [SPEAKER_00]: So they came to me earlier this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've done this show as a guest.

[SPEAKER_00]: The bus had opened show many times to promote things and they came to me earlier this year as if I was interested.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said hey, like I can do it one day a week if you could figure out a way to [SPEAKER_00]: adjust, you know, your schedule to my schedule and they did.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why they did, but they did.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I do it with Sam Roberts every Tuesday now.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's been only three weeks, but it's been a lot of fun.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you never know where this is going to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's going to have to be life after wrestling.

[SPEAKER_00]: But like we said earlier, I love having things on my plate.

[SPEAKER_00]: I say, crumbs make crumb cake.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I make a little here, make a little there, make a little there and it all ends up, you know.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I definitely want to, uh, to first divide the portfolio if you, uh, if you want to consider that way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you regularly think about life after wrestling?

[SPEAKER_01]: No, never.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that means a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: OK.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been doing this professionally, twenty-one years, I'm forty, but I feel like I keep it obviously, you know, father time is undefeated.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to catch us all, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But I feel like I, you know, I've not slowed down one bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I've got better.

[SPEAKER_00]: I definitely work smarter.

[SPEAKER_00]: This has been my lifelong dream.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was, you know, obsessed with wrestling as a kid.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was doing the backyard wrestling.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're listening, don't try his at home, but I did it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so like why have only been professional wrestling for twenty-one years?

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I've been taking those bumps.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, almost thirty.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, take it on the grass.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the basement.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're saying, if you were in the WWE, you'd probably have to ask to do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that what you said?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's a big corporation, a big company, you know, they control everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, but now I control everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Matt Cardona controls everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: When, so I just want to go through it, I know you've been through this a billion times, but I do find this very fascinating in terms of how you built this career.

[SPEAKER_01]: You get released from WWE, twenty-twenty.

[SPEAKER_01]: Were you, was it because of COVID do you think or do you think they didn't have a story line?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was COVID.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was COVID had just started.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it was April, fifteen, twenty-twenty.

[SPEAKER_00]: We get a, [SPEAKER_00]: a notification in our WWE talent app that Vince McMahon's going to make this announcement.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a video that he makes.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think is just sent to the talent that, you know, don't want to fall for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Basically people lose their jobs today, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm thinking, well, I hope it's me.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I was thinking, which is crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You think.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because a year prior myself and I don't want to say everybody on the roster, but [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody I talked to at least were offered brand new deals.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now I don't have proof of this, but I think because AEW was starting.

[SPEAKER_00]: So everyone was offered brand new deals.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's five year deals.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay or go.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for a whole year, we were negotiating.

[SPEAKER_00]: I never saw, I didn't sign that new contract.

[SPEAKER_00]: My contract was going to be up in that August, July or August that year anyway.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when I saw a lot of my buddies getting released, I was thinking, oh my God, are they going to just let me [SPEAKER_00]: like sitting rotten to logists like just this finally now, you know, let me let me get my life together.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when the call came, it was not an upsetting call.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, you know, I don't have much wrestling stuff in my house.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do have a boy room that's covered in wrestling stuff, but other than that, there's no wrestling stuff in my house except [SPEAKER_00]: Painting, a fan made me of what I won the intercontinental title at WrestleMania.

[SPEAKER_00]: My dad legitimately hopped the barricade, slid in the ring, gave me a hug.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I have that hung up in my house.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when I took the call, getting fired, I was looking at that painting, just smiling, knowing like, we did it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything would be great.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's all good.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was going to just get a little later.

[SPEAKER_01]: But since you mentioned, we could cover it now and shift back.

[SPEAKER_01]: When you won that intercontinental title at WrestleMania, you had the title for one day.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, one day.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Did you know going into many of you were going to only have it for like, when do you find out your identity?

[SPEAKER_00]: I did.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did.

[SPEAKER_01]: Were you pissed or did you happen to have a WrestleMania moment?

[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't even supposed to be in the match.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't even supposed to be the match, and then someone got injured, and I went to the head right at the time, and I just spilled my guts in like basically why I have earned a spot on this match, why deserve to be in this match.

[SPEAKER_00]: For some reason that, you know, they got me in, and just hearing my music play at WrestleMania was the win.

[SPEAKER_00]: Walking down that aisle was the win.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, yes, obviously winning the title was [SPEAKER_00]: the greatest accomplishment in my career and then add to it my dad legitimately hops the barricade slides in you know at the moment I was pissed he still my spotlight right also we were in Dallas, Texas so of course my dad if you know anything about my dad he's ridiculous [SPEAKER_00]: He was wearing a WrestleMania cowboy hat.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he slides in the ring and he tries to put the cowboy hat on my head.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, get this off me, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Looking back, it's such like a defining moment, a moment I'll never forget.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the best moment of my life, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: So the fact that it ended the next day, I think it adds to the Zach Rider story, the Mac card on a story.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I would have had it for another month or two and lost it, it's a random show who cares.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just adds to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Finally gets it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've taken away.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the story of Matt Cardona and Zach Rotterr, whatever you want to call me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I worked my ass off.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's highs and lows, but you can't get rid of me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was just wondering if that played a factor in you being happy that you're getting released then in twenty twenty.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know if it was something like, oh, you know, no.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't even know when they title run.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's years later, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's a couple years later.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like, twenty nineteen, I win the tag team thousand.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, even then, you know, we have the titles for a couple months.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who cares?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I wish we would have lost the next day too.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when you get the release in twenty twenty over COVID, you're happy about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then you go on this run with the independence and do something we really haven't seen that often in the wrestling business where you just take off after leaving WWE.

[SPEAKER_01]: Was that?

[SPEAKER_01]: what you thought it was going to be was it more difficult to carve that out for yourself was it easier than you thought I obviously have to work your ass off and there's a lot of travel involved but had it looking back on it what was that experience like when you leave and start the independent [SPEAKER_01]: God like career.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a, I'm going to give you a long-winded answer, but I get fired.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the pandemic.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's nowhere to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's not any evidence.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's world shut down.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's literally, I can't leave.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't do anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: So luckily, Brian Myers and I, we had started something called the major wrestling for the podcast, and I was keeping us up low financially, you know, because there was no work to work, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: WWE was doing things close set, AEW was doing things close set, TNA as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got offered to go to TNA, but all of my buddies were going to TNA.

[SPEAKER_00]: If they're all going, I don't want to go there.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I want to stand out.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I did some stuff with AEW that summer.

[SPEAKER_00]: Did like two or three shows and they just, I thought it went great, but I never, never got it off for.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is what it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when, you know, a couple months went by, again, there's still nowhere to work.

[SPEAKER_00]: But once the independent is opened up, probably like the next spring.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, twenty twenty one, I'm like, all right, I don't know what's going on here, like, but I'm gonna take over.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna dive, head first.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not gonna dip a toe and I'm gonna work everywhere, work everyone and do whatever I can to have the whole world talking about me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't have [SPEAKER_00]: a chip on my shoulder.

[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I'm going to prove these guys wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no, I'm going to prove myself right.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to prove my fans, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what motivated me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't want to be motivated by bitterness or negativity.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to, you know, I think I'm so good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think WWE should have used me better.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, but I'm gonna shut up prove it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: To myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's exactly what I did.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, most people [SPEAKER_00]: They go to the end of payments and they die.

[SPEAKER_00]: Five years since I released from WWE.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hate to, you know, it sounds very narcissistic, but I'm hotter than ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this weekend, I would just show after show after show, money, money, money, like, because I don't stop.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I force it down people's throat that I'm out there on the indie god, the death match king, internet champion, where every nickname you could think of, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, right.

[SPEAKER_01]: So even though you are all of those things, is the goal to get back to the WWE or you don't care if you ever get back there or not?

[SPEAKER_00]: So listen, like, if WWE called me or a WWE called me or not, or even TNA, they offer me something, of course, I'd have a conversation, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And this has been getting me a lot of flack with the internet wrestling community now, because, you know, I get interviewed like this all the time and people ask me this question, then I give an answer.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then they say, oh, my color is begging to go back.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just answering your question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Am I surprised?

[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't been offered anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: If not, so be it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I don't care how you just define success, happiness, you know, accolades, money.

[SPEAKER_00]: No matter how you define it, I'm more successful that I've ever been.

[SPEAKER_00]: Matt Cardona is more successful than Zach Redo.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell you what, he's having a lot more fun too.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have a guess as to why they haven't tried to bring you back?

[SPEAKER_00]: I have no idea.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't, I can't even speak through that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't predict.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't look into a crystal ball.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't get into somebody's brain.

[SPEAKER_00]: All I can do is focus on me and be in the best version of me.

[SPEAKER_01]: You feel like you have a good relationship with Triple H?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have a bad one.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's for sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, every, every once in a while, I reach out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let them know what I'm doing, but there's no offer.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is what it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: What's interesting to me about it is, you know, in a way, I even, you know, when I was preparing this, I feel like I didn't want to do a whole go back to WWE, go back to WWE because I'm sure, like you have a very successful thing going.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the wrestling fan in me knows, and we've seen this time of time again.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we saw it last night with Roman Reigns.

[SPEAKER_01]: We saw it with Cody.

[SPEAKER_01]: When someone goes away, [SPEAKER_01]: And then they come back.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's like the best thing in wrestling.

[SPEAKER_01]: It seems like.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it seems in wrestling.

[SPEAKER_01]: The slogan absence makes the heart go father is more prevalent there than anywhere.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I imagine, hopefully, you know, if they brought you back, they do it smart, it's New York, you come out.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that place is going to go Apeship.

[SPEAKER_01]: You think they'd win that?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they were just chanting for me in Saudi Arabia.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, like, I'd be lying to you if I said, I never want to have a WrestleMania moment, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or I never want to wrestle at MSG again, or even AEW just did all in at that stadium in Texas.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was in Texas by wrestling front of a thousand people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, I would want that again, but I can't be my driving factor.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need to focus on me and making myself better and changing the game.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm more focused on changing the game than trying to get back somewhere.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I make sense.

[SPEAKER_01]: And even like you said, if you never go back, look what you've done, look what you've accomplished.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, like I said, it's what there are a lot of wrestlers who can leave WWE and have successful careers.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're on another level with it, though, like you said, with the independent God moniker.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to, you know, I don't do this podcast to try to get into people's personal lives, but I have to ask, because it blows my mind away.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, is it, you know, you're married to someone who's in WWE?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not in WWE.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: What is that dynamic?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, do you, do you, do you, I mean, well, I don't want to, I'll let you tell me what the dynamic is, because I know how I would be.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would be a big yenta asking a million questions and, you know, trying to get dirt and gossip and [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, so we barely talked about wrestling outside of, you know, when we did work together at one point, so when we first met, we worked for different companies.

[SPEAKER_00]: I worked for WWE, she was in TNAC, and she eventually gets in WWE, but she, like, in the NXT system, not quite in WWE, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Then I get fired, and I'm doing like the independence, stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's in WWE, but she gets fired.

[SPEAKER_00]: So then we'd do the independence together and then when she came in, it really just added the Mac card on a persona independence.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she was such a huge part of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But she got asked to go back and it wasn't even a question.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, you have to go back because she never really got the full taste.

[SPEAKER_00]: I always say like, you know, curing machine like they put it in but they never put brew.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like she was there but not there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So she had to go and experience it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she's absolutely killing her right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't see each other a lot, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But we try to make those moments the best we can and our schedules are totally different.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we're both doing what we do best.

[SPEAKER_01]: As an outsider, I just find it a fascinating dynamic that she's there.

[SPEAKER_01]: You would like to be there, especially with a big money contract.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's weird.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not weird, but it's, I just, I find it fascinating that it can, well, I mean, I certainly, I certainly would like to see my wife seven days a week instead of two or one or ero.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you know, there's a lot of companies back up to two over seven.

[SPEAKER_01]: Keep that up.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're wise there in WWE, like, that's what I'm curious about.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you say, you don't see each other at ton.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm curious with the independence and doing a little bit here, TNA, a little bit there, you, AW, and all your other stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: What is your travel like during the, how often are you on a plane during the week?

[SPEAKER_01]: How often are you home?

[SPEAKER_01]: You must, and everything I see about like flying these days, it looks like a huge debacle.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have any good [SPEAKER_01]: frustrating stories about what you see on at airlines and in airplanes give me some on the travel that you have to endure.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean for instance this weekend I was on the road I had a show Friday, which was in Dallas, Texas, Saturday at a show with Chicago.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sunday show in Portland, Oregon, you know, and then Monday is my, my work from home day where I do a lot of the major rest of her podcast of like that, but I'm at least a home on Monday, so then on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm on four days a week, which isn't okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now there's those exceptions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, you go to Australia, you go to Japan, but typically I'm home four days a week, which it's up and up and on those four days, I'm on my phone.

[SPEAKER_00]: You work, honestly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, whether it be for the toy business, you know, I'm not sitting home, relaxing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I, you know, say everyone's a while like you said, I go to Disney World and unwind, but you know, I'm still working still grinding, thinking of ways to make merch, shipping out my online orders, whatever it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to get into the podcast and the, and the figure business and all that, but I want to ask, and I don't know, you know, I went into this, and I was like, I wonder, like, if you hate talking about WWE and getting the WWE questions, and then I was wondering if you hate going back and talking about what I absolutely love to death, which was the Z-True, what my own story, and those videos you did.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't tell you how much I thought those things were so genius at the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I actually, I love the way the internet community got on board and the WWE really wasn't on board and they didn't get it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that stuff was so groundbreaking and so ahead of its time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like if you had that thing now, like that show now is what all these companies want.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is internet and clips and viral and [SPEAKER_01]: You know, YouTube, everything's YouTube clips, YouTube clips, guys.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry to meet you guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, so, I mean, if I didn't start that show, I wouldn't be talking to you right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that show defined me.

[SPEAKER_00]: It made my career, it set me up for a life in wrestling, that show.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was in WWE, wasn't getting used the way I wanted to be used.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I decided I'm gonna do something about it, you know, and I started a YouTube show because I wanted, I know, maybe I didn't know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I know, so a hundred percent, maybe then, [SPEAKER_00]: It's about the connection with the audience, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The audience needs to feel a connection to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if I'm just in the ring on raw, sometimes with no entrance, losing in three or five minutes, why would I like this guy?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, like, I've got to give them a reason for like me.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I started this YouTube show to show my personality to, you know, I'm a, to show I'm a wrestling fan or show I like Star Wars or actually or whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I eventually started making, it evolved.

[SPEAKER_00]: I started getting my dad in, and my friends, and I feel myself at home, and it took off.

[SPEAKER_00]: I became the internet champion, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: That show, it's set me up for everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like today, since that, how many of the new shows of it, there's been so many?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's just how it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: That show today would make you a shit ton of money with what YouTube has become.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, right.

[SPEAKER_00]: So even then, even then, I knew, [SPEAKER_00]: Since I started on my own on my own YouTube channel, I even know then, I can't monetize this because doing stuff outside of WWE, like we just said, you have to ask to do this interview, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So doing what I was doing, I knew it was going to stir the pot, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I knew I was either going to get noticed or get fired.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I knew that [SPEAKER_00]: that buzz that I would create would get me to TNA or something.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I knew I would get buzz either way.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't want to get fired.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to become a superstar in WWE, which I did eventually.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that was the motivation.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, I need to, I need some buzz.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's exactly what I got.

[SPEAKER_01]: correct me from wrong also at that time the WWE it's totally different now like the WWE right now they're so on top of everything with social media in YouTube and all that's a fact then they really weren't like I like to me they had no clue what they had on their hands with you and that show and I mean [SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of what that's why probably you were able to do it because they didn't care.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I remember when I first started a podcast here a long time ago, my boss was like, oh, I don't care about podcasts because you probably had that in WWE.

[SPEAKER_01]: You probably were like, oh, have a YouTube show and they're like, oh, we don't care.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they had a YouTube channel, but it was just clips from the show.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I think when they found out about it, it was almost like too late.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're like, the fans are chanted.

[SPEAKER_00]: My name shows them not even that.

[SPEAKER_00]: My merchandise and the top sellers.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not featured on TV and I'm like, well, what do we do with this?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll never forget.

[SPEAKER_00]: They wanted to move the show to www.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, are you kidding me?

[SPEAKER_00]: I said, no one goes to www.com and they're going to YouTube.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, www.com.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, it worked.

[SPEAKER_00]: They finally put me on TV, you know, and some of those moments were incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mass is where God and the rock makes his return.

[SPEAKER_00]: We talk about big returns, the rock makes his return.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their chances for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's where God and the rocks have been run.

[SPEAKER_00]: Which is a cool moment, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then that first year, me doing the show all by myself, and I'm not complaining.

[SPEAKER_00]: I filmed it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I funded it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did all the editing, which I'm sure you could tell because it was, [SPEAKER_00]: But that's a great.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a great.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was the truth.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been down the Long Island Expressway.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the next year they saw WWE signed a big multi-million dollar YouTube deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like my show had to be a part of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like it went from something I was doing to get over to now like, no, you have to do this show.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, you still have to film it yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: You still have to fund it yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: You still have to edit it yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And unlike the first year where I saw my career going up, up, up, up, up.

[SPEAKER_00]: The second year, I saw going down down down down.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was very disheartening.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I blame myself for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't blame anybody else but myself for that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you were supposed to fund it, but were you getting the profits?

[SPEAKER_00]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: That that math doesn't add up.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, it does not.

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I will just say this to wrap up this part of the discussion.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when the when wrestling fans sit around and they talk about the best entrance songs of all time and obviously stone coal with the glass breaking in the rock.

[SPEAKER_01]: I am putting.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, radio right up there and I don't care what anyone says.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm being dead serious.

[SPEAKER_00]: Dead serious.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's an awesome theme song and woo woo.

[SPEAKER_01]: I loved it all back then.

[SPEAKER_00]: So and you know what I did do and a lot of people did.

[SPEAKER_00]: And listen, I'm so grateful for that time of my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: of my career, but you know, that's the past.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I knew once I left WWE couldn't just, and I say it's the people all the time when you, when you get five from WWE, you like three options, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You could either like, boo, boo phase, if you'll start for yourself and just fade into obscurity, you could like live off that WWE run and like try to make money off that forever, which you can.

[SPEAKER_00]: or you can totally reinvent yourself, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I chose to do, reinvent myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hate saying become my own boss, but become my own boss and do everything on my terms my way and try to change the game.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I truly believe I changed the game in two thousand eleven.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to do it again right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that was, as I said, I'm proud of Zack Ryder.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm grateful for Zack Ryder and grateful for WWE.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything, hey listen.

[SPEAKER_00]: The success I have now is only because of Zack Ryder and what I learned in WWE.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why I was able to clean up and just take over the Indies because I was treating it like it was WWE.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had the vision as if I was in WWE, the merchandise, the meat and greets, not a structure that matches.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I had that advantage over everybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: You, you guys, I'm sure all of you guys probably hate it.

[SPEAKER_01]: When fans come up to you and give you like storyline ideas or work the next, whatever.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going to be the douchebag for once again, just say, I hope ultimately one day, WWE brings you back.

[SPEAKER_01]: Your back there is Matt Cardona.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I hope there's one night, whether it's at the garden or the Coliseum.

[SPEAKER_01]: We get one night of Zach Ryder on the radio in that building, just once, one more time.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's my listen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I might sound egotistical saying this.

[SPEAKER_00]: You tell me, Royal Rumble, it doesn't have to be in New York.

[SPEAKER_00]: It can be raw.

[SPEAKER_00]: It can be smacked out.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care where it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: That would usually place the place that's going to explode.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just this.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like, you know, and if I were to ever go back, I would not want it to be Zack Ryder, you know, I wanted to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there's no denying that music played the place we go nuts.

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me talk about some current times here before we wrap it up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have to ask you, obviously, because it caused a big stir a few weeks ago, the WWE has an event.

[SPEAKER_01]: John Cena does a promo and he mentions three guys, not currently with the company.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was Dolph Ziggler and Claudio and yourself.

[SPEAKER_01]: Where you watching it, did you find out?

[SPEAKER_01]: After the fact, what was your reaction and have you heard from Sina about why he mentioned your name?

[SPEAKER_00]: So I was at a TNA show, actually, so I was not watching.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Matt Cardone is going to milk this for all its work.

[SPEAKER_00]: So like, I have a t-shirt right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, Matt Cardone, you know, right away, put that up there.

[SPEAKER_00]: That week in a GCW, I went up on the term book, was it, hey, John Cena, you know, got that clip going viral on the internet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm all about [SPEAKER_00]: milk in any moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can till there's no milk left.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_00]: I had no idea that was coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why you did it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I certainly appreciate it.

[SPEAKER_00]: John, I'd consider a friend.

[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe he was throwing me a bone, whatever he was doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for some other.

[SPEAKER_01]: So in this day, two three, three, four weeks later, you still have no idea why he mentioned your name.

[SPEAKER_00]: No idea.

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't send them attention.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said thank you very much.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't need to say, I don't need to ask, well, I don't need to know why.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need to know.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I mean, you don't want to know if there was a reason, like what was, was he, you know, was it off the cuff, did he plan it?

[SPEAKER_01]: I would want to know that, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you know anything about the problem I was doing, it was kind of spoofing the CM Punk fight bomb, where CM Punk years prior had said hello to people of camera who didn't work there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: So whether he was doing that and then I've seen some other these other conspiracy theorists were like the MC the Matt is supposed to stand for somebody else in the nation and you know what I don't care.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said by Dave and I milked it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't care what the reason is.

[SPEAKER_01]: Good, I like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love that you have t-shirts about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you call it such a stir because I mean, listen, things are a little different now.

[SPEAKER_01]: It does seem like in WWE when Vincent's Vince was there, you would obviously know this, you were there so long.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, there are all these rules about what to say, what not to say.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when Vince was there mentioning a wrestler who wasn't with the company was like, you know, oh my God, the hell is frozen over.

[SPEAKER_01]: But in this new regime, it doesn't seem as outlandish to mention someone who's not there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that a right read?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I agree.

[SPEAKER_00]: The regime change, I think it's been good for the business big time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tell me about, like I said, you're going to be part of pro wrestling nation.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to make sure I get it right there for serious XM pro wrestling nation, twenty four seven.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can hear Matt every week on that channel on serious XM.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tell me your podcast has been going on for a very, very long time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was someone who does a podcast that taught, you know, you [SPEAKER_01]: It's like weekend.

[SPEAKER_01]: We got this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: You love it.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's weeks.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, oh my god, I don't want to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Are you you still love doing the pod?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it is it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, sort of like that break for you from actually wrestling.

[SPEAKER_01]: Give it give everyone a little taste of your pod and what it is and how you feel about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, so myself and Brian Myers, we started the major wrestling figure podcast, just about eight years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's about wrestling collectibles, wrestling toys.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've never missed a week.

[SPEAKER_00]: People are like, what do you guys talk about every week?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, if you're in the community, you know there's a lot to talk about.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't ever get sick of doing it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's, you know, now it is turning to a business where, you know, it's more than just us just be asking about toys, you know, we get paid through various different ways through this podcast and it's spawned into a toy company, which we just signed with AEW, which is big news or making AEW figures.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's my passion, you know, and that's the thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: It started to make money.

[SPEAKER_00]: I started it because I love [SPEAKER_00]: wrestling figures and love wrestling collectibles in myself, Brian Myers, and smart Mark Sterling, who's from AEW, he was our producer and then turned into a host.

[SPEAKER_00]: We just love it every week.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're just, we're just BS and talk about toys and collectibles.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know job sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know job sure, but I don't, I don't treat it like it's a job.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, okay, every Monday after do it, yes, it's a job, but I'm having a ball.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know during COVID, [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people will start getting back into like their baseball card collections and the baseball card thing and the breaks became a big thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: What did, with the wrestling figures and the toys, did that get a little bit of an uptick in a boom during COVID or have you, that wasn't a factor in how big it's become?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, definitely is a factor.

[SPEAKER_00]: A hundred percent.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when we get fired, like I said, all I had as an income source was this podcast about toys.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm thinking, well, who's going to be, you know, the world is falling apart?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who's going to be spending money on toys and collectibles?

[SPEAKER_00]: Turns out everybody was.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there is this huge boom, which we've, you know, I don't want to say the bubble bursts, but it's certainly not how it was before.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it would over the little spike.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's still, it went down, but it's still way higher than it was pre-pandemic.

[SPEAKER_00]: Got it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Got it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll wrap it up by telling you this story quick about.

[SPEAKER_01]: wrestling figures.

[SPEAKER_01]: So for people listening, Matt is friends with Salacata, who's on this podcast every week, who you know, if you listen to it, Sal is into the wrestling figures.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sal had, I've talked about Sal has a great setup at his house with his figures.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sal comes over one day, and my brother has a massive wrestling figure collection.

[SPEAKER_01]: Early, early mid-eighties, WWF stuff, Hillbilly, Jim, and Ruined, and that stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: And sales tell me how it's worth money.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you could really get a lot of money for those figures.

[SPEAKER_01]: We go to check them out and I had forgotten that my brother was a little little kid with these wrestling figures.

[SPEAKER_01]: He basically would write in red magic marker all over the faces to have fun.

[SPEAKER_01]: So then sales said they're not worth anything now.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's my right.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I have a negative connotation of the wrestling figure business because we can't get anything for those wrestling figures.

[SPEAKER_01]: because they have bread marker on them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, those are those are pretty beat up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, those I grew up in those same figures and those are actually the type of figures that we make now.

[SPEAKER_00]: We call them big rubber guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like those just like that Hillbilly gym.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we try to make them to fit that style.

[SPEAKER_00]: We make guys in the never made who make better versions, you know, even.

[SPEAKER_00]: badass macho man or even taller onto the giant, but we do current stars too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Basically, if you're not in WWE, we can make you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It used to be if you're not in WWE or AEW, we can make you, but now we can make AEW.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, that's good.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we can make everybody, and it's just a lot of fun, and you know, it's a lot of work.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't foresee myself starting a toy company, you know, but things just happen, they progress, and my nickname is always ready.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm always ready for any opportunity.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me wrap it with this, because I haven't given you a chance.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've talked so much, but if you want to give us where you're going to be wrestling, where people can see you, what events you're going to be at, if you want to do a little bit of that right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well actually this weekend Saturday in Brooklyn, where the Brooklyn Cyclones play, I'll be for GCW, which is that, I'd say that's my home independent promotion.

[SPEAKER_00]: GCW goes all over the world, but this Saturday there'll be a Brooklyn, and the next day, TNA slam a Versary at the UBS, [SPEAKER_00]: And they just had to add more seats because there's going to be so many people there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's going to be cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be cool to come back to Long Island for for TNA wrestling, TNA wrestling's a company.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been a part of in and out for the past five years and I love how they've grown into something where they're kind of like Mac Cardona.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have a lot of highs and lows and people count them out, but they never quit.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm really rooting for them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it always just nothing but a thrill when you get to wrestle back here in New York or is there a little pressure because you have like friends and family there?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, what's that like when you come back home?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a thrill, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I grew up here going to wrestling shows whether it'd be in the Nassau Coliseum or masses where garden, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's fun, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: To say I've wrestled at those places, Hammerstein Ballroom, Arcless Center, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: I've never wrestled at UBS.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've never been inside UBS, so I'm very excited this Sunday for TNA, [SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate you coming on like I said everybody can catch Matt on Series XM pro wrestling nation twenty four seven and then of course all over the independence that we've talked about he's got his podcast wrestling toys if you need some of those guys and I I just I just want to hear on the radio again.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I want.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love that's all radio.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, it's [SPEAKER_00]: When I'm at an autograph signing, there's people who come and sing it to me, or they ask me to do the woo woo woo.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I won't do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That guy's dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: Zach Riders dead, but I'm very proud of Zach Rider and he set me up.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I always say this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Zach Rider needed to die for Matt Cardona to live.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm very grateful for Zach Rider.

[SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate Matt Cardone coming on, joining me for the pod and best luck with everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: Enjoy the run there.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's serious and hopefully we get young again sometime soon.

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope my nice back, my nice backdrop with all my figures, my title bells, my professional set up set of this courtyard Marriott with.

[SPEAKER_00]: Appreciate it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks.

[SPEAKER_01]: Alright, my many, many thanks to Matt Cardona and Joy the Conversation.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you are new to the pod, make sure you subscribe, Cody Rhodes from the WWE is expected to be guessed on the pod next week.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that should be good.

[SPEAKER_01]: And make sure you subscribe, rate, and review on Apple.

[SPEAKER_01]: Alright, thanks again to Matt Cardona.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks to you for listening.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see you next week.

[SPEAKER_01]: Stay safe and take care.