Matt Cardona has revealed his thoughts behind his big win at Wrestlemania 32. Wrestling under the name Zack Ryder, he climbed the ladder in a multi-man ladder match to win his first and only Intercontinental Championship in the WWE.
He was a replacement in the match for Neville (PAC in AEW) who had been injured prior in a match against Chris Jericho. The former United States Champion took his opportunity with both hands and beat out six other men to win the match.
The bout was plagued by injuries, with lower card wrestlers like Sin Cara and Zack Ryder never intended to be a part of it. He was only a transitional champion, as he would lose the belt the next day to The Miz on Raw, thanks to a returning Maryse.
However, that did not make the moment any less special. In a recent episode of “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy“, Matt Cardona spoke about his WWE Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 32, calling the moment “very, very special”
“Just being in that match was a win for me. Just to have a WrestleMania entrance and to see my name in a WrestleMania program … it was cool. Then days before , they told me I was gonna win. That’s way too many hours out, it’s a miracle that it didn’t change. I ended up winning the Intercontinental title. My dad genuinely jumped the guardrail and slid into the ring. It’s a moment I will never ever forget. That moment was very very special to me.”
After the match he went backstage and had a cool moment with Scott Hall. As a kid, Cardona had a photo taken with then-champion Razor Ramon (played by Scott Hall) and held Ramon’s title in the photo. He went backstage and recreated the picture, except this time having Scott Hall holding his title belt.