New York Wrestling Connection (2004–2006) Cardona was trained by
Mikey Whipwreck. He debuted with New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC) in 2004, using the name
Brett Matthews. He began regularly teaming with
Brian Myers and the duo of
Myers and Matthews went on to defeat the NYWC Tag Team Champions Dickie Rodz and
Mason Raige by disqualification, for which titles do not change hands. On February 24, 2006, Cardona signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In March 2015,
Devon Nicholson described an incident from 2006 that
Bill DeMott was involved with while he was head trainer for the WWE's DSW developmental territory. Nicholson described an incident where
Drew Hankinson was completely naked in the ring for a long period of time and gave naked
stink faces to Cardona and
Melissa Coates while DeMott held jelly donuts over their faces. The wrestlers agreed to do this (with the other talent encouraging them) to get out of regular training for that day. DeMott refuted the notion that it was his idea, stating that the other trainees came up with because they wanted to skip the session.
La Familia (2007–2009) (center) and changed their names to
Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder The team was moved to the main roster in May 2007. They worked on WWE's
ECW brand, winning only their first match until they were
drafted to
SmackDown! in June. On November 9 they won a battle royal to receive a
WWE Tag Team Championship match, but didn't win. At
Armageddon, the duo dressed up like
Edge and interfered in the
World Heavyweight Championship match, replacing Edge at several points along the match to help him win the title and thus
turning heel for the first time in their WWE career. On December 21, the Major Brothers were revealed as an acquaintance to Edge and his lover,
SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero. The Major Brothers were repackaged and renamed, with Cardona and Myers being renamed
Zack Ryder and
Curt Hawkins respectively. Occasionally referred to as the Rated-R Entourage by commentators
Michael Cole and
John "Bradshaw" Layfield, the group allied with Guerrero's nephew,
Chavo Guerrero and his enforcer
Bam Neely as the group
La Familia, which dominated SmackDown's storyline through 2008. Ryder and Hawkins interfered in Edge's match at
WrestleMania XXIV against
The Undertaker, but Undertaker eventually won the match. At
The Great American Bash on July 20, Curt Hawkins (the former Bryan Major) and Ryder won the WWE Tag Team Championship from
John Morrison and the Miz in a
fatal four-way match which also featured
Jesse and Festus and
Finlay and
Hornswoggle after Hawkins pinned Jesse. Their victory meant that they were the youngest team to hold the championships. By
SummerSlam in August, La Familia had begun to fracture and Ryder, with Hawkins, went back to appearing on their own. On the September 26 airing of
SmackDown, Hawkins and Ryder lost the titles to
The Colóns (
Carlito and
Primo) in their first televised title defense. On April 15, 2009, Ryder was drafted back to the ECW brand as part of the
2009 supplemental draft, separating the team.
Long Island Loudmouth (2009–2011) Ryder made his return to
ECW on May 5, 2009, in a backstage segment with General Manager
Tiffany. He now sported short spiky hair, tanned skin, sunglasses, a headband, half-trunks/half-tights, displaying something of an arrogant Long Island
guido character and more frequent uses of catchphrases "woo woo woo" and "you know it", that he had used sparingly in the tag team. His first win was on the May 19
ECW on Sci Fi over a
jobber, in what is now known as the "exploding trunks" match due to the jobber suffering a
wardrobe malfunction during the match. On September 15, Ryder won a 10-man battle royal to earn contendership to the
ECW Championship but lost to the champion,
Christian, the following week. On the November 3 episode of
ECW, Ryder entered a love angle with
Rosa Mendes who became his
valet. He also feuded with
Tommy Dreamer, culminating in a match on December 29 where Ryder won to force Dreamer to leave the company. When the ECW brand came to an end in February 2010, Ryder and Mendes moved to the
Raw brand, making his debut on the February 25 episode of
Superstars, defeating Primo. Ryder made his
Raw debut on March 1, losing to
MVP in a
Money in the Bank qualifying match. He participated in an untelevised 26-man battle royal at
WrestleMania XXVI, being the last person eliminated by the winner
Yoshi Tatsu. Mendes was drafted to SmackDown as part of the
2010 Supplemental Draft without Ryder, so Ryder sought a new valet, trying to impress
Alicia Fox and
Gail Kim while they watched his matches at ringside. During a match with
Evan Bourne on the May 10 episode of
Raw, Fox attempted to interfere on Ryder's behalf but was stopped by Kim, leading to Bourne winning the match. The two new pairings faced off in a mixed tag team match on the May 17 episode of
Raw, which Ryder and Fox lost. Ryder had a return win over Bourne on May 27's
Superstars. The next week on
Raw, Fox attacked Ryder with an axe kick after
Raw guest host Ashton Kutcher put a bounty on Ryder's head. During the June 7 Viewer's Choice episode of
Raw, Ryder was voted to team with
The Miz, defeating
John Morrison and
R-Truth. The next week, Ryder had a title shot in a fatal four-way match for the
United States Championship, but lost. Months later, in August, he was given a
WWE Championship match against
Sheamus that lasted 11 seconds, which was the second-shortest WWE Championship match in WWE history, in an attempt by Sheamus to circumvent the company's 30 day championship defence policy. During this time, Ryder became a mentor on the
second season of
NXT to
Titus O'Neil. They debuted in a losing effort against John Morrison and Eli Cottonwood; O'Neil was the first rookie eliminated from the second season, on June 29. On the July 27 episode of NXT, Ryder, now sporting normal trunks, lost against
Percy Watson, making him the first mentor of season 2 to lose to a rookie in a singles match. For the remainder of the year and well into 2011, Ryder mostly became used on the non-branded
Superstars show, occasionally teaming with Primo, and has since dropped his half-trunks/half-tights gear and began wearing normal trunks. Ryder won a
2010 Slammy Award for Most Annoying Catchphrase in December.
Rise of the Ryder Revolution (2011–2012) As a result of being underutilised on television, Ryder became dissatisfied with his place in WWE and he started a
YouTube web series called
Z! True Long Island Story in February 2011 to promote his character. The web series soon earned Ryder a dedicated fan following: his T-shirts sold out despite not appearing on television The web show's popularity led to Ryder having a rise in status, making more appearances on television. Between April and June, Ryder appeared during
Raw more often, often in backstage segments with
John Cena. On the July 29 episode of
SmackDown, Ryder was appointed as the assistant to SmackDown General Manager
Theodore Long, allowing him to make television appearances on both
Raw and
SmackDown. On the September 19 episode of
Raw SuperShow, Ryder won a non-title match against United States Champion
Dolph Ziggler with the help of guest star
Hugh Jackman who punched Ziggler mid-match. Following his victory over Ziggler, Ryder received a match for the United States Championship the following week and again at
Vengeance, but both unsuccessful due to interference from
Jack Swagger. Ryder
main evented
Raw SuperShow for the first time on November 7, teaming with John Cena in a losing effort against The Miz and R-Truth. At
Survivor Series later in November, with Ryder not wrestling on the card, there were multiple "We Want Ryder" chants, including during the United States Championship match and during
The Rock's show-closing speech. On the December 5 episode of
Raw SuperShow, Ryder lost a match to Cena and a chance for a WWE Championship shot, but Cena surrendered his WWE Championship match so Ryder could have a second chance, but for the United States Championship. This second chance was a no disqualification match against then
World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry, which Ryder won with interference from Cena, thus earning him a United States Championship match at
TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, which Ryder won over Dolph Ziggler to capture his first ever singles title. Shortly after, Ryder left his position as assistant to the SmackDown General Manager due to his championship commitments.
Return to lower-tier status (2012–2015) 2012 turned out to be less of a success for Ryder than 2011.
The Baltimore Sun wrote, "The 2011 calendar year was a dream for Ryder... But 2012 was a nightmare..." Seemingly all the glory of his YouTube hit fizzled... After WrestleMania, he was rarely seen on WWE TV". By March 2012, John Cena noted that Ryder had "fallen off the face of the earth" despite 2011's success. Ryder was eventually ranked by
Pro Wrestling Torch writer Benjamin Tucker as No. 1 in the "Top 10 Crashing Stars of 2012". Tucker noted that Ryder was once again a jobber despite getting himself over in 2011. supporting Ryder as he prepares to face
The Miz in April 2012 Going into 2012, Ryder started trying to romance
Eve as part of a romantic storyline. As Cena's friend, Ryder also became a target of
Kane, who was feuding with Cena at the time and attacked Ryder on several occasions. On the January 16 episode of
Raw SuperShow, Ryder lost his United States Championship to Jack Swagger due to a kayfabe rib injury he suffered at the hands of Kane; Ryder never received an automatic title rematch despite being the former champion. Ryder's injuries mounted after he was
chokeslammed through the
Raw SuperShow stage and
Tombstoned at the
Royal Rumble. On the February 13 episode of
Raw SuperShow, a wheelchair-using Ryder saw Eve kiss Cena, after Cena saved her from a kidnapping by Kane. After a confrontation with Cena, Kane wheeled Ryder off the stage, injuring him even further. While Ryder was out injured, Eve sparked a heel turn for her character when she revealed that she had never liked Ryder and had
disingenuously used him for fame and publicity. Ryder returned on the March 5 episode of
Raw SuperShow, confronting Eve on her recent actions, but she managed to seduce him and the two shared a long backstage kiss afterwards. Ryder then joined Theodore Long's team for a match to determine the General Manager of Raw and SmackDown at
WrestleMania XXVIII. During the match, Eve distracted Ryder, costing him and Team Teddy the match, and she added further insult to injury by giving Ryder a low blow after the match. After wrestling sporadically, Ryder failed to gain revenge on Kane for his attacks on him earlier in 2012, when Kane easily defeated Ryder in the pre-show match of
Over the Limit. He won
The Great American Bash 20-man Battle Royal on the special "
Great American Bash" July 3 episode of
SmackDown to become the acting SmackDown (or "ZackDown", as he called it) GM the next week. At the
Night of Champions pre-show on September 16, Ryder won a 16-man battle royal to become number one contender for the United States Championship. However, later on in the pay-per-view, he failed to capture the title from defending champion
Antonio Cesaro. During the debut episode of
Main Event on October 3, Ryder and
Santino Marella were entered into a tournament to decide the number one contender to the tag team titles, where they defeated
Justin Gabriel and
Tyson Kidd to advance to the semi-finals. The following week on
Raw, the duo (eventually known as Team Co-Bro) was eliminated from the tournament after losing to Team Rhodes Scholars (
Cody Rhodes and
Damien Sandow). As 2012 drew to a close, Ryder commented that the year had "sucked". In 2013, Ryder most commonly appeared on
Superstars and lost all his singles matches on
Raw and
SmackDown. After weeks of the roster's emasculation at the hands of authority figure Triple H, Ryder and several other babyfaces finally saved
Daniel Bryan from a beat-down by
The Shield and
Randy Orton on the September 16
Raw. In response, Triple H arranged for Ryder and Justin Gabriel to face
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan of
the Wyatt Family on the next
SmackDown, where Ryder's team lost. On the next
Raw, Bryan, Ryder and the other babyfaces faced the Shield in an 11-on-3 handicap elimination match; Ryder was eliminated by
Roman Reigns, but his team eventually won the match. In January 2014, the
Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter released a ranking of WWE's roster; Ryder was ranked as a lower-tier babyface and the third lowest babyface on the roster. Ryder was also unsuccessful in winning three battle royals: the
André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at
WrestleMania XXX, a battle royal for the United States Championship in May and a battle royal for the
Intercontinental Championship at
Battleground. On the July 21 episode of
Raw, Ryder picked up his first singles victory on
Raw since December 2012, In November 2014, Ryder announced that he had torn his
rotator cuff. John Cena gave a storyline explanation that a comment on
Twitter led to
The Authority punishing Ryder. Ryder returned on January 25, 2015, at the
Royal Rumble in the Rumble match at No. 9 and was quickly eliminated by
Bray Wyatt. Ryder participated in the 2nd annual André the Giant Memorial
battle royal at
WrestleMania 31 which was won by
Big Show. Ryder, being accompanied by the cast of
Entourage, answered Cena's United States Championship open challenge on the May 25 episode of
Raw in his hometown and in the final WWE event held in the
Nassau Coliseum, but failed to win after a countered
450 Splash. On the June 4 episode of
SmackDown, Ryder accepted
Kevin Owens' open challenge for the
NXT Championship, which he lost.
The Hype Bros (2015–2018) at
WrestleMania 32 In June 2015, Zack Ryder began appearing in WWE's developmental system
NXT, where he formed a tag team with NXT's returning
Mojo Rawley. After a month-long feud with the likes of
The Mechanics (
Scott Dawson and
Dash Wilder) and
Jason Jordan and Chad Gable, along with countless victories over the teams, The Hype Bros teamed up with
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady to defeat The Mechanics, Jordan and Gable in an 8-man tag team match at
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. On the October 16 episode of
NXT, The Hype Bros competed in a match for the
NXT Tag Team Championship in a losing effort. On the October 22 episode of
NXT, Ryder competed in a 26-man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the
NXT Championship. Ryder was unsuccessful, although he was among the last few competitors in the match. Meanwhile, on the main roster, Ryder continued wrestling on
Superstars and
Main Event from June 2015 to March 2016. He suffered singles losses to
Bo Dallas,
Rusev and The Miz, but managed to trade singles wins and losses with
Adam Rose,
Heath Slater,
Stardust and
Tyler Breeze. At
WrestleMania 32, Ryder substituted
Neville in the
ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship and won. He lost the title to The Miz the following night on
Raw. Three days later on
SmackDown, Ryder received a rematch, where
Maryse helped Miz to retain. After that, he was put in the orbit for the United States championship, working with wrestlers like Rusev, Big Show, or Sheamus. At
Battleground, Ryder was defeated by the United States champion Rusev. After the match, with Rusev continuing to beat down Ryder, Ryder's former tag team partner Mojo Rawley would make the save, thus reforming The Hype Bros tag team. On August 21 at the
SummerSlam pre-show, The Hype Bros teamed with
The Usos (
Jimmy and
Jey) and American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) to face
The Vaudevillains (
Aiden English and
Simon Gotch), Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango), and
The Ascension (
Konnor and
Viktor) in a 12-man tag team match, where Ryder's team was victorious. The Hype Bros later participated in an 8-team tournament to crown the inaugural
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions, where The Hype Bros defeated The Vaudevillains in the first round, before losing to
Heath Slater and Rhyno in the semi-finals. However, after American Alpha were removed from the tournament following an attack by The Usos, it was announced that The Hype Bros would face The Usos at the
Backlash pay-per-view to determinate who would face Slater and Rhyno in the finals, but The Hype Bros would go on to lose the match. They also participated in multi-tag matches at
Survivor Series and
TLC: Tables Ladders and Chairs. On the December 13 episode of
SmackDown, Ryder injured his knee and was inactive for six months. He returned on the June 13, 2017, episode of
SmackDown, reuniting with Rawley. On June 18, at the
Money in the Bank pre-show, The Hype Bros faced
The Colóns (Primo and
Epico Colón)in a winning effort. Two days later on
SmackDown, Shane McMahon announced that Ryder and Rawley would have an opportunity to become number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at the June 27 episode of
SmackDown in a match against tag team champions The Usos, in which they lost. On the November 28 episode of
SmackDown Live, the team was dissolved when, after a lost against The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan), Rawley attacked Ryder. They would face at
Clash of Champions and during a tournament for the United States title with Rawley winning both matches. At
WrestleMania 34, Ryder participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, where he was eliminated by Mojo Rawley.
Reunion with Curt Hawkins (2018–2020) On April 16, Ryder was drafted to Raw brand as part of the
Superstar Shake-up, where he began to work with his former partner Curt Hawkins. On the
WrestleMania 35 kickoff show, Ryder and Hawkins defeated The Revival to capture Raw Tag Team Championship. Following that, the team was largely absent from television and mainly appeared at live events. Even though they were the champions, they only made two appearances on WWE programming during the month of May: a loss to
The Viking Raiders (
Erik and
Ivar) on the May 6 episode of
Raw and a win against
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson on the May 27 episode of
Main Event. On the June 10 episode of
Raw, Ryder and Hawkins lost the titles back to The Revival in a tag-team triple threat match also involving The Usos. In his final pay-per-view appearance, they lost to the Viking Raiders at
Elimination Chamber, The following night on
Raw, Ryder was defeated by
Bobby Lashley in what would be his final WWE match. He was released from the promotion along with several other superstars on April 15 as part of budget cuts stemming from the
COVID-19 pandemic.
All Elite Wrestling / Ring of Honor (2020, 2024) After leaving WWE, Cardona began to work with
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on a limited appearance deal under his real name. He made his debut on the July 29, 2020 episode of
Dynamite, saving
Cody from an attack by
Alex Reynolds and John Silver of
The Dark Order. He made his in-ring debut on the August 5 episode of
Dynamite, teaming with Cody to defeat Reynolds and Silver. At the
All Out pay-per-view on September 5, he teamed with
Dustin Rhodes,
Q. T. Marshall and
Scorpio Sky in an eight-man tag team match to defeat
Mr. Brodie Lee,
Colt Cabana,
Evil Uno and Stu Grayson of The Dark Order, which was his last match with the promotion until 2024, as it was reported he was no longer under contract with AEW. On the March 30, 2024 episode of
AEW Collision, Cardona returned to AEW, accepting
Adam Copeland's open challenge for the
AEW TNT Championship. He was defeated in the match. On the December 5, 2024, episode of
ROH Wrestling, Cardona made his
Ring of Honor (ROH) debut (AEW's sister company), challenging
Chris Jericho to a
ROH World Championship match at
Final Battle, but he was defeated by Jericho.
Impact Wrestling (2021–2023) After leaving AEW, Cardona began to work with
Impact Wrestling in a similar limited appearance deal. He made his surprise debut on January 16, 2021, at
Hard To Kill, where he defeated
Ace Austin by disqualification. On the January 26 episode of
Impact!, Cardona teamed with
Josh Alexander to defeat Austin and
Madman Fulton. Soon after, Cardona would begin a feud with his former tag team partner, Brian Myers. At
No Surrender, Cardona and
Eddie Edwards were defeated by Myers and
Hernandez, and Cardona was defeated by Myers again at
Rebellion in a singles match. The feud ended at
Slammiversary, where Cardona teamed up with his real-life fiancée,
Chelsea Green to defeat Myers and
Tenille Dashwood. At
Bound for Glory, Cardona competed in the
Call Your Shot Gauntlet match, where he would be the runner-up in the match after being lastly eliminated by
Moose. At
Turning Point, Cardona lost to
W. Morrissey with the help of Moose. On the December 2 episode of
Impact!, Cardona pinned Moose in a tag team match, thus earning him an Impact World Championship match at
Hard To Kill. At the event, on January 8, 2022, Cardona was unsuccessful in capturing the title in a three-way match also involving Morrissey. On the February 3 episode of
Impact!, Cardona defeated
Jordynne Grace to win the
Impact Digital Media Championship after hitting her with a steel chair, thus turning heel. At
No Surrender, he defeated Grace by disqualification after she delivered to him a low blow. On the February 24 episode of
Impact!, Cardona defeated Grace for the title again in a
Dotcombat match. On the April 15 episode of
Impact!, Myers reunited with Cardona and attacked W. Morrissey during an in-ring promo, with the help of Chelsea Green. At the end of the segment, they smashed Morrisey through a table. Later in the show, Green gave
Mickie James a cheap shot and then knocked her down with Myers and Cardona's help. The following week, Cardona retained his title against the returning
James Maritato. He would lose the title against Rich Swann during an independent event. On October 7 at
Bound for Glory, Cardona made his return by competing in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet, eliminating
Gisele Shaw and
Taylor Wilde before being eliminated by Bhupinder Gujjar. On May 14, 2023, Cardona confirmed he was officially done with Impact Wrestling. However, Cardona returned to Impact Wrestling on October 21, at
Bound for Glory as a participant in the 20-person Intergender Call Your Shot Gauntlet match, eliminating
Jake Something,
Sonny Kiss,
Frankie Kazarian,
Eric Young and Brian Myers before being eliminated by Jordynne Grace.
Independent circuit (2021–2025) event in 2021 Between 2021 and 2025, Cardona worked on several independent promotions, most notably
Game Changer Wrestling. During these years, his work on the independent promotions was higly praised, being known as the Indy God. Cardona won the
Pro Wrestling Illustrated Indie Wrestler of the Year award in 2022 and 2023 and was named by Fightful as the Male Independent Wrestler of the Year in 2022. Cardona made his debut with GCW on June 6, 2021, at
Zombie Walk, attacking
Nick Gage. Cardona challenged Gage for the title at night one of
GCW Homecoming in a
deathmatch, winning the
GCW World Championship. In GCW, he had a gimmick that tried to "fix" GCW, bringing sports entertainment elements such as dressing like Vince McMahon when he was ECW Champion, referring to the fans as GCW Universe and introducing a new title design with a spinner version of the belt. He would lose the championship to Jon Moxley on September 4, 2021, at
The Art of War Games. In 2026, Cardona credited his work with GCW as the center of his success as the Indy God and the reason WWE rehired him in 2026. As part of the gimmick, he also defeated former ECW wrestler Rhino for the
ECW World Television Championship. Cardona also worked with the
National Wrestling Alliance, winning the
NWA World's Heavyweight Championship from
Trevor Murdoch at
NWA PowerrrTrip. He held the title for X days, but vacated the belt at
Alwayz Ready due to an injury. He tried to regain the title at
Hard Times 3 and
Nuff Said, but didn't win any of the matches. He also worked for
Major League Wrestling, wrestling for the
MLW World Heavyweight Championship at
One Shot, but was defeated by
Alex Kane. He also appeared with Japanese promotion
DDT Pro-Wrestling, defeating
Tetsuya Endo for the
DDT Universal Championship at
Wrestle Peter Pan 2023.
Return to TNA (2024–2025) On the March 28, 2024 of
TNA Impact, Cardona along with
Steph De Lander returned to TNA in a 8-4-1 match. On the April 11 episode of
TNA Impact, he and De Lander made a second appearance smashing
Jordynne Grace through a table. Following this, Cardona would be sidelined for months, due to suffering a torn pectoral muscle. On the August 1 episode of
TNA Impact, Cardona returned and attacked
PCO at his wedding with Steph De Lander. Cardona would begin a feud with PCO, as he had considered De Lander to be his "property", due to a contract agreement that De Lander had signed for her visa. This would lead to a tag team match scheduled for
Victory Road between the team of Cardona and De Lander and the team of PCO and Rhino. However, the match did not happen, as De Lander announced that she had suffered a neck injury before the match was supposed to begin. Cardona would attack Rhino, after the segment. Cardona would then challenge PCO to a
Monster's Ball match for the
TNA Digital Media and
International Heavyweight Championships at
Bound for Glory. At the event, Cardona would lose the match. On the January 23, 2025 episode of
TNA Impact, Cardona would return to challenge
Joe Hendry for the
TNA World Championship in a losing effort. On October 12 at
Bound for Glory, Cardona competed in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet, eliminating Zack Clayton,
Eric Young and
Mance Warner, who eliminated him afterwards. On December 5 at
Final Resolution, Cardona defeated Warner in a
Street Fight.
Return to WWE (2025–present) Cardona made his return to WWE as part of the TNA invasion storyline with the NXT brand as Matt Cardona, wrestling his first match in five years on the October 14, 2025, episode of
NXT, losing to
Josh Briggs. He also participated in the "Last Time is Now" tournament to determine John Cena's final opponent as Zack Ryder, losing on the November 14 episode of
SmackDown against
LA Knight.{{cite web|last=Lambert|first=Jeremy|title=Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) Returns To WWE, Loses In Last Time Is Now Tournament ==Professional wrestling style, persona, and reception==