Matt Cardona Tells The Truth On Any Talks He Had With WWE About 2023 Royal Rumble

The rumor mill is plentiful in all the speculation it churns out in WWE right around the Royal Rumble. There is no shortage of guesswork as to who could possibly be a surprise entrant in the annual affair. For this year's edition, two popular names that kept coming up were free agents Matt Cardona and his wife Chelsea Green. While with "Ad Free Shows" though, Cardona addressed whether there was even an ounce of truth to any of those rumors putting him in the 30-man elimination match. 

"The Royal Rumble thing — that was never in the plans," Cardona revealed. "There were all these rumors about. I don't know where they started. But, first of all, if it was true, I wasn't going to confirm it in one of these g**damn interviews or on social media. And I knew it wasn't true, but I wasn't going to confirm that it wasn't true because I want people to keep talking about me."

Cardona has hinted that he could potentially return to WWE with Triple H at the creative helm, but he refuses to come back and ever work under the name Zack Ryder ever again. While he does enjoy working for other promotions — like Impact, GCW, and the NWA, he has been very clear that one of his career goals is to win the WWE Championship, which he obviously can't do anywhere else but in WWE.

Green, on the other hand, did show up at the Royal Rumble, entering the women's match and setting the record for the shortest time in the bout before being eliminated. She officially signed a deal with WWE, adopting a Karen-like person upon her debut. 

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Ad Free Shows" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.