Matt Cardona Explains The Lead-Up To His Full-Time WWE Return

New WWE star Matt Cardona has revealed the timeline of his return to WWE and when he signed the deal to make it official.

A few weeks after making an appearance on "WWE SmackDown" to take part in the Last Time is Now tournament, Cardona once again returned to the blue brand on the January 2, 2026 edition. This time around, Cardona was officially a part of the promotion, making his return to the company after six years. He revealed on his "Major Wrestling Figure Podcast" that discussions with WWE began after his initial appearance on "SmackDown," and he eventually signed his deal during Christmas week 2025.

"After the SmackDown thing with LA Knight, that's kind of when the ball got rolling, right? Where there was like discussions, like, 'Oh, we'll be in touch, blah, blah, blah.' I don't know if you [to Brian Myers] remember, we were at WrestleCade, and I was at dinner after we had the match, and I left and I went and took a phone call. That's when I got the call [saying], 'Hey, you know, we're interested. Let's start talking.' I was like, 'Oh, boy. All right, here we go.' So it was a very stressful — in a good way, right? Like, not bad stress, right? But still, 'Is this going to happen? Is this not going to happen?' Finally signed Christmas week. So it's very sudden," said Cardona.

The "SmackDown" star revealed that he flew into Rochester airport instead of Buffalo airport, which is the city where the show was being held that day. As is the case with surprise appearances in WWE, he was hidden for most of the day and was eager for the news of his re-signing with WWE to make it out. Cardona wanted a fresh start with his return to WWE, requested a new song from Downstait, for which he is thankful, and said that he loves the entrance theme.