Matt Cardona (Fka Zack Ryder) Discusses His 'Shock Value' WrestleMania Moment

Matt Cardona's run as Zack Ryder in WWE might be largely remembered for his many mid-card storylines. Still, his emotional win at WrestleMania 32 is arguably one of the biggest moments of his career. On "Insight with Chris Van Vliet," Cardona recalled how his "WrestleMania Moment" came to fruition.

According to Cardona, it was Vince McMahon who noticed how over he was with the audience when he watched an episode of "WWE Main Event." "I heard Vince McMahon was in his dressing room before "Raw," eating a steak or whatever, looked up, and I was on "Main Event," and said 'Why aren't we doing something with this guy?' And then a couple of weeks later, I heard I was on this internal list to be in the ladder match."

While he was removed from the match only a week after finding out about his inclusion, PAC (Neville in WWE) suffered a broken ankle, reopening a spot in the Ladder Match, and prompting Cardona to approach Road Dogg to petition for his inclusion. "I just spilled my guts to him and why I deserve to be in that match over anybody. And one thing I said was I never heard my music play at WrestleMania. He later told me that line was what made him go to bat for me." Despite how important the moment was to him, Cardona admits it was likely WWE looking for shock value. "I think they wanted a surprise shock value to start the show and luckily, I was that guy, the underdog! I will credit it, whether it be the WWE Universe or my fans around the world, they've never turned their back on me."

If you use any quotes from this article please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.