Cody Rhodes has made it no secret that he is good friends with Zack Ryder, but he is leery of his promotion turning into “All Friends Wrestling.”
During a live Q&A on Instagram, Cody was asked whether or not Zack Ryder aka Matt Cardona, could end up in AEW. Cody was complimentary of Cardona, as he has been in the past but it was very forthwith about not wanting his promotion to turn into nepotism guaranteeing a spot on the card.
(h/t: Jeremy Lambert of Fightful.)
“Zack Ryder is the best,” said Cody. “He’s got over two million followers on Twitter and over a million followers on Instagram. Very broad influence, incredibly famous, more famous than many guys out there. But that doesn’t always translate. The biggest hurdle he’ll face is his friendship with me. He’s one of my only really close friends in wrestling. Maybe my only friend in wrestling. I have my brother (in AEW), I have my beautiful wife, and they all do the work. This can’t be All Friends Wrestling. You have to handle it the best way. If you put on the Nightmare Family jacket, you’ve got a massive bullseye on your back, just in the locker room alone. It’s a total heat seeker. But I’m looking forward to what he does next. He’ll turn a lot of heads. I think and hope our paths will cross down the road. He’s just entering wrestler prime. Men’s wrestler prime is 35 to 40.”
When Cardona was first released, Cody put up a very heartfelt Instagram post which you can see below:
As of right now, Matt Cardona is waiting for the coronavirus pandemic to subside before he begins taking bookings.