Matthew Brett Cardona (born May 14, 1985) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under his real name. He previously performed in WWE from 2006 to 2020 under the ring name Zack Ryder, and is also known for his tenures in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and the independent circuit.
Cardona debuted in professional wrestling in 2004, teaming with Brian Myers on the independent circuit. Both men were signed by WWE the following year, making their main roster debuts in 2007. After the team split in 2009, he made appearances on WWE's ECW brand until 2010, following which he was featured sparingly on television. In 2011, he launched a YouTube web series in which he proclaimed himself WWE's "Internet Champion"; this, along with his creative use of social media, helped him establish a substantial cult following. Over the course of his time with WWE, Cardona held the Intercontinental, United States, and (Raw) Tag Team Championships (the latter with Hawkins on two occasions).
After being released by WWE in April 2020, Cardona has made appearances in major wrestling promotions including All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Impact Wrestling, and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), as well as throughout the American independent circuit, most notably in Game Changer Wrestling (GCW). He has since won various championships including the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship, Impact Digital Media Championship, and GCW World Championship. During this time he received critical praise, being named Indie Wrestler of the Year in 2022 and in 2023 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. He returned to WWE in October 2025 and re-signed with the promotion in January 2026.
Matthew Brett Cardona was born in Merrick, New York, on May 14, 1985 with Italian ancestry. While in high school, he overcame synovial sarcoma, which had started in his foot and spread to his lungs. He was forced to miss a year of school.
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 the next event on June 4, they won a rematch decisively to become the NYWC Tag Team Champions. Later that month, they were attacked by The Dead Presidents (Lo Lincoln and Boog Washington) to set up a feud where they eventually lost their titles against them on August 27. On September 23, they were entered into a three-way match with then champions, but Team Tremendous (Dan Barry and Ken Scampi) ended up with the championship. After continuing to win matches, they re-earned a match against Team Tremendous and won the titles for the second time on January 25, 2006. They held the championship until they faced the B.S. Xpress (Tony Burma and Mike Spinelli), who defeated them for the titles on March 26.
Developmental territories (2005–2007)
Cardona's first WWE appearance was on April 21, 2005, on SmackDown!, where he lost to Matt Morgan. On February 24, 2006, Cardona signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In Deep South Wrestling (DSW), he was renamed Brett Major while Myers was renamed Brian Major. On October 12, they won the DSW Tag Team Championship from The Untouchables (Deuce Shade and Dice Domino) and held them until the end of November, losing them to Urban Assault (Eric Pérez and Sonny Siaki). After the titles were vacated in the following year, they became two-time champions defeating the new team of Sonny Siaki and Afa Jr (The Samoan Swat Team) and The Blue Bloods (William Regal and Dave Taylor). Later in 2007 they moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship once, reigning from June 15 to 29.
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.
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. He lost to Finlay in his first singles match, on the May 7 episode of Superstars. 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.