Matt Cardona Reveals Why His AEW Run Wasn't Longer

The Broski explains his cup of coffee in AEW.

by Andrew Pollard
Cody Matt Cardona
AEW

On the latest episode of the Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast, one-time Intercontinental Champion Matt Cardona has been discussing why his stint with AEW was such a short one.

After being one of the many names released by WWE on 15 April 2020, Cardona turned up in AEW as he came to Cody Rhodes’ rescue on the 29 July episode of Dynamite. The former Zack Ryder had just two matches with All Elite Wrestling, both of which pitted him against the Dark Order.

Explaining why his AEW stay wasn’t a longer one, Cardona said that he wasn’t offered a long-term deal and that he wasn’t going to beg for one.

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“I had a little agreement with them to do a couple shows, and they never offered me anything long-term. I’m not gonna sit there and beg. It is what it is. I had a great, great time there. It was awesome. It was an awesome experience.”

Continuing his praise of Tony Khan’s promotion, the Broski added:

“Listen, it was great, and AEW is the place to be. It’s thriving right now. It has all these different shows, has different YouTube shows, two TV shows. It’s awesome. But at the end of the day, I wasn’t offered anything and I wasn’t gonna sit around and wait to be offered something.”

In recent weeks, Matt Cardona has got the wrestling world buzzing at the prospect of him going one-on-one with the insane violence of Nick F'n Gage - with the two set to square off for Gage's GCW World Heavyweight Championship at 24 July's GCW Homecoming Part 1.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.