Chris Jericho Talks Vince McMahon Resenting Talent Getting Over Without WWE Pushing Them

The former Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, Matt Cardona and Curt Hawkins, made an appearance on Talk Is Jericho where they went through Cardona and Myers' careers in WWE. Myers shared a story where he was training with The Rock ahead of his comeback at Madison Square Garden.

"I got called by Johnny Ace leading up to the show. This is The Rock's big return at Madison Square Garden that tag match," Myers noted. "Johnny Ace calls me. I thought I was getting fired, but he's like, 'we want you to be like Rock's personal punching bag basically. They built the ring wherever he was filming a movie, and I would fly in like 7 a.m. flight and 7 p.m. flight out of Miami. Wherever we were I would be like his punching bag. Me and Joe Hennig would be the guys that he roll around with.

"So I was doing that, and then I was at that show. I don't know why, but I had to be there because it was at the Garden, and he's [Cardona] not booked right? You're just doing a run in right? The crowd is going insane for him like I've never seen before, like at a live show. It's the coolest thing ever, and I'm like swelling with pride. So finally Ziggler and Morrison, you do the run on that match."

Cardona discussed what was going on before his run-in at the Madison Sqaure Garden show. He talked about the work that he put in before that made him one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE.

"So this is November. I start the YouTube show in February," Cardona stated. "So it's almost a whole year of working my f–king ass off and just trying to get noticed. Trying . Trying. Trying. It literally took almost a whole year, and it was the fall time where I think eventually they said we got to shut these people up because I wasn't even booked to these shows.

"They're chanting. They're bringing these signs, I was incorporating that into my show. I had somebody who would literally watch RAW and Smackdown and find a Zack Ryder sign and screenshot it. Then I'd include all those signs in my YouTube show, and it would entice people to bring signs. So I was just trying to create as much momentum as possible."

Cardona said that he hoped that after getting a big buzz from fans at Madison Square Garden, he would get high praise backstage. However, Triple H only talked about Cardona's hair.

"Finally, I think they had to just put me on to shut everybody up, but now, the chants were getting louder and especially the match he's talking about. It was a Ziggler vs. Morrison match," Cardona noted. "Listen, I don't want to toot my own horn, but like I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about. Madison Square Garden, not only is it our home arena, but it's The f–king Garden.

"I go out there. The place is going nuts, and I get to the curtain. Triple H is like, 'come here,' and I'm thinking finally this is it," Cardona elatedly said. "He's gonna say, 'good job kid.' This is what I've been waiting for like, how can you deny? This is Madison Square Garden, right? He pulls me aside, and I had just got fresh blond tips on my hair like that week.

"So he asked me, 'why did you dye your hair?' I'm like, what? Madison Square Garden is chanting my name. You're asking me why I dyed my hair. I've been dying my hair for months. It was just a fresh job like come on man. I thought he pull a come here like he would say, 'good job, man. Alright, we believe in you. Let's go,' but it's like you can't go dying your hair like that or something like that."

Myers revealed that normally on the RAW after WrestleMania, there would be a meeting backstage about "grabbing the brass ring" to motivate talents. However, those stopped after the Ryder character got over.

"Chris can attest to this," Myers stated. "Every year, as long as I was in WWE, after the RAW after Mania, we have this BS company everyone there at TV meeting where we say the brass ring is there. It's yours. It's a fresh year. Who's gonna get it?

"Ever since Long Island Iced Z and Z! True Long Island Story, they don't even bother with that meeting anymore because they know it's not true. It's not true because even if you grab the brass ring, you're going to get your hands smack. You to have it. You're not going to have it."

Jericho brought up Daniel Bryan and his rise in WrestleMania 30. He talked about how Bryan was not given a push despite his popularity because the idea for Bryan was not Vince McMahon's idea.

"And once again, you guys don't have to contribute this if you don't feel it, but there really is a bit of a strange resentment. If Vince doesn't think of it, it's not valid," Jericho noted. "It's not real, and the same thing happened with Daniel Bryan when he first came in. I mean Vince did not like him because he was a vegan and all these other reason. He went and got over because he knows that how to get over, and they still resisted it for so long until finally they had no other choice.

"I feel the same thing happened with Zack Ryder in that you got over so well. You gave yourself an internet title."

Cardona talked about the low point in his career where he felt his accomplishments were getting erased. He talked about getting pushed by Kane while in a wheelchair and how he never questioned anyone about it because he felt it would lead to something down the line, but nothing ever came.

One of the most heartbreaking things in my career and also my life was seeing all the hard work from Z! True Long Island Story literally every week, it was getting erased," Cardona revealed. "I felt like someone had a giant pencil eraser and was erasing a part of my body. That's what it felt. One of my biggest regrets is that I was too young and afraid to almost, not stand up for myself, but question like, 'hey, why is this happening?' I should have went right to Vince and said like, 'hey, I'm selling this merch. I'm doing this. I'm doing that. Why is this happening?' And I just took it.

"Well Kane is throwing me off a stage. I guess I'll fight him next week at Backlash or something, and then that never happened. Then eventually, it all goes away, but I was just so naive and young that I just felt like OK, well, this is just part of it. Kane beats me up for a while, and alright, well, maybe I'll wrestle him at Backlash or Judgement Day. I just thought that's what would happen, and it didn't."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.