Matt Cardona recently made his WWE return by participating in the Last Time is Now tournament. Fighting once again as Zack Ryder, he lost to LA Knight on the SmackDown episode of November 14, 2025. Two weeks after this, he has now been spotted with another former superstar of the company, Dolph Ziggler.The Showoff had also made his return in the Last Time is Now tournament and lost his match to Solo Sikoa. The duo recently shared a photo on X via Matt Cardona’s handle alongside three other wrestlers at a WrestleCade gathering. Responding to the image, Ryder posted a tweet and said:“There are days where I’m not sure what I’m doing with my life… Then I sing Honky Tonk Man’s entrance theme with Honky at @WrestleCade… I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing.”Zack Ryder currently has a merchandise deal with WWE, under which three T-shirts have been released on the WWE Shop. According to his wife and the Women’s United States Champion, Chelsea Green, she and Cardona weren’t aware if he would make a return till the last day when he had to show up on smackdown. Chelsea Green’s advice turned Matt Cardona into an indie phenomMatt Cardona is inarguably one of the most recognizable faces in the independent pro wrestling scene right now. Interestingly, Chelsea Green has stated that she is the one who came up with the idea for Cardona’s success after his release from WWE in April 2020.Speaking in an interview with Chris Van Vliet in February 2024, The Hot Mess said that she had asked him to make sporadic appearances across several promotions. Green told him that she has worked the indies for seven years and knows how to make things work.Opposed to this, Cardona wanted to sign up for one promotion and stick with it. But Ryder was unsatisfied while following his idea. A year later, as revealed by the AAA Mixed Tag Team Champion, Cardona did exactly what his wife said and found huge success.CVV asked Green if the former Intercontinental Champion ever gave her credit for it publicly. Responding to this, the Women’s US Champion said that he never has, and asked CVV to clip the segment, and she would make Cardona retweet it from his official X account. Thus, while Zack Ryder is doing what he wants, Chelsea Green helped him find his path after WWE.