Matt Cardona Explains How He Paved The Way For WWE's Drew McIntyre

Former WWE star and current GCW general manager Matt Cardona has discussed how he may have played a part in Drew McIntyre's current online persona. 

The self-proclaimed "King of the Deathmatch" was one of the first wrestlers to use social media for his benefit. Through his "Z! True Long Island Story" YouTube show, Cardona became a cult hero amongst WWE fans, with many getting behind him despite him not being used on TV. During a recent appearance on Freddie Prinze Jr's "Wrestling With Freddie" podcast, Cardona explained how he was one of the pioneers of using the internet and social media to get people interested in storylines. 

"I don't want to say I'm the first person to incorporate social media into my storylines, but I'm definitely one of the first people, with my YouTube show back in the day," Cardona said. "Me and [Dolph] Ziggler, we took this 'midcard story' and added so much to it because of our back-and-forth tweets, he stole my girlfriend on my YouTube show, or he attacked me in my hotel room. This was stuff that wasn't done before, but now it doesn't have to be week-to-week and that's it."

Cardona then turned his attention to the ongoing feud between Drew McIntyre and CM Punk, which Cardona sees as a perfect example of how wrestlers are using the internet and social media to get people as, or potentially more, invested in a storyline than what they are able to get across on TV. "Look at what Drew McIntyre and CM Punk have been building on social media. They've made the story so much more intriguing and you want to see the eventual match because of all the trash talking they're doing, not just on Monday nights."

Please credit "Wrestling With Freddie" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.