Awesome / Matt Cardona

Matt Cardona, the belt collector!

• After SO LONG, Triple H has decided to bring him to his first official fight on 7/25/11...against Michael Cole. Okay so it wasn't a long match, but hey it's nice to see him FINALLY in the ring.
• Triple H decides SmackDown needs a new perspective in the office and gives Theodore Long an assistant.... That assistant? Zack Ryder. This = RATINGS.W.W.W.Y.K.I.
• Hugh Jackman hosting was fun and awesome enough. Choosing Zack to be his 'underdog' to go up against U.S. Champion Dolph Ziggler and going out to ringside was great, too. But here's a REAL STEAL, bro!
  • And the following week, Zack had a U.S. Title shot against Dolph Ziggler, and lost thanks to Vickie Guerrero and Jack Swagger. That wasn't awesome. Getting beat up by Ziggler and Swagger following the match? Nope, not cool. Air Boom making the save and it leading to a tag match? A little better. Mason freakin' Ryan as Ziggler and Swagger's partner? Are you SERIOUS, bro? When Mason entered against Zack, a lot of people were expecting him to squash Ryder. Instead, we got THIS. Can you say, "Mason Ryan, Broski of the Week?" WOO, WOO, WOO!
    • Except Ryan wasn't Broski of the Week. Bourne and Kingston were. Still awesome, though.
• His match versus Jack Swagger in Mexico, Jack dominates then boom Rough Ryder out of nowhere. Funny how a guy who ended up being on the bad end of squash matches squashed a former World Champion.
• Here's an example of Ryder's awesomeness as a social media maven. His online petition via Twitter for a future United States title shot after beating Ziggler again? It has gotten over 10,000 signatures, and it hasn't even been a week.
  • After 2 weeks? Over 18,000 signatures. That's what you call a "Ryder Revolution"!
• Ryder FINALLY getting to tag with John Cena on the 11/7/2011 Raw, and even getting to hit a dual Broski Boot AND Five-Knuckle Shuffle with someone he idolizes, it's about as big a Moment of Awesome an Ascended Fanboy like Ryder can get.
• Madison Square Garden, "WE WANT RYDER!" That is all.
  • And a rub from THE ROCK, of all people, during the post-show. Ryder nearly went Squee when it was featured on Z! True Long Island Story.
• Episode after episode of Ziggler disrupting Ryder's broadcast, Zack finally gets the one-up on Dolph, laying him out with an Internet Title belt shot and telling Ziggler in a serious tone, "Later, mark."
• Ladies and gentleman, the "Ryder Revolution" has come full circle: ZACK RYDER, NEW UNITED STATES CHAMPION! WOO, WOO, WOO, YOU ALL KNOW IT!
• As shown in the main page, it takes a lot to put Ryder down. To wit in the month of January alone: it took Jack Swagger three times to put Ryder down with his Gutwrench Powerbombs (which target the ribs and Ryder's ribs were cracked), has been chokeslammed through the arena and a ten foot drop by Kane, and was somehow able to maneuver in a wheelchair during the Royal Rumble despite looking like he went through World War II. Gotta give him credit for actually being able to move after what he's went through.
• On the July 3rd, 2012 Smackdown Supershow, the winner of the 20 man Battle Royal is the Intern Manager for next week. The winner, Zack Ryder wins by eliminating the Big Red Machine Kane. If that isn't poetic justice (seeing as Zack has been chewed out, spat out and thrown into a shredder by Kane in the beginning of 2012), I don't know what is.
  • It gets better, he not only eliminated Damien Sandow but he dumps a bowl of punch on Eve.
• One that's less Zack Ryder and more Matthew Cardona, the revelation that he beat cancer when he was 17. Just shows that like the character, the man behind him also can beat the odds.
• Say what you will about his status in 2015, but Ryder, in front of his hometown, in the last WWE Event at Nassau Coliseum, gave John Cena a hell of a fight for Cena's US Title Open, even going so far as to bust out a freaking 450 splash. It didn't take, but you can tell Zack was putting it all out there that night.
• Things are finally starting to look up for Ryder since he joined NXT. Tagging with Mojo Rawley, he manages to make it to the quarter-finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic as the Hype Bros.
• Ryder winning the Intercontinental Championship in a seven man ladder match at WrestleMania 32. A match he wasn't even supposed to be in, widely speculated to being a replacement for the injured Neville. What makes his win even better is that Ryder is considered to have overshadowed the main event where Roman Reigns won his third WWE WHC.
• The 2016 4th of July week has been quite an upswing for Zack: Getting two eliminations in the 12-man "USA vs. The World" tag match on Raw, those being Cesaro and the winning elimination of Sheamus, debuting a revamped version of his theme song courtesy of Downstait, and even beating Sheamus one-on-one on Smackdown, something he's never been able to do before!
  • It even bolstered his confidence enough to give a straight-up challenge to Rusev for the US Title on the next episode of RAW...and Rusev accepted!
• At WrestleMania 35, Zach and Curt Hawkins upset The Revival to win the Raw Tag Team Championships
• Matt Cardona went from undercard WWE joke to beating Nick Fucking Gage for the GCW Championship, and he did it by beating Gage in the latter's signature Deathmatch. Of note was Cardona's white singlet turning absolutely crimson red with all the glass shards that sliced through his body.
• Matt Cardona has completely reinvented himself in 2021, becoming the most hated heel in GCW and attracting nuclear heat for the disrespect he shows the promotion and its hardcore style. Nobody would have ever believed WWE's "Broski" would have been capable of pulling off this kind of character transformation, but it's simply amazing to see how he rejuvenated his career, not by leaning on his WWE Ensemble Dark Horse status, but by intentionally steering away from it, revealing hitherto unseen levels of talent.