Matt Cardona Discusses The Impact That GCW Has Had On His Career

Since his time with WWE came to an end in April 2020, Matt Cardona (previously known as Zack Ryder) has been making a name for himself across various promotions. One of those promotions happens to be Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), where he debuted on June 6, 2021. He's even held the GCW World Championship on one occasion. But if you ask the man himself, that didn't always seem like an ideal landing spot post-WWE. Recently, Cardona opened up about what the promotion has meant for his career.

"I mean my initial thoughts to doing something with Nick Gage and GCW was 'Hell no!'" Cardona said on "Love Wrestling." "No way. Not doing this backyard deathmatch stuff."

In the weeks leading up to his eventual debut, he had been calling Gage out over social media. Then, almost two months later, he was defeating Gage in a deathmatch to become world champion for the first time in any promotion. At the end of the day, Cardona just wants the fans to feel something when he walks through that curtain. That's something he's been able to capture there, and why he ultimately took a chance on GCW. The self-proclaimed "Deathmatch King" just never realized quite how special his time there would become.

"I knew it would be an opportunity, I knew it would create buzz," Cardona continued. "I couldn't have anticipated how much buzz it would create, and it changed the trajectory of my whole post-WWE run."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Love Wrestling" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.