Matt Cardona has given his side of the story of his first meeting with Tony Khan.
Cody Rhodes recently appeared on the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast to give his side of the story of the meeting. It occurred in 2020 before Cardona had a brief run as “Cody’s friend” on AEW. The WWE Champion revealed the meeting took place at an after-party, which was more public than they wanted.
Cody then told the hilarious story of Matt Cardona telling Tony Khan, “Let me stop you right there.” He also mentioned how Cardona refused to wear a “Nightmare Family” jacket, which the King of the Indies disputed.
Matt Cardona told his version of the story on the latest episode of the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast. He revealed how he thought Tony Khan didn’t know the meeting was happening at all. He admitted it happened at a party, but denied the Nightmare Family being brought up at all.
“This is what happened. So I get released from WWE, and Cody puts me in contact with his agent, who I used for a couple of months. They set up this meeting with Tony Khan. What I really think happened is that they never told Tony Khan about this meeting. I don’t know that for sure. It’s just the vibe I got. I drove to Jacksonville, where all the TVs were taking place.”
“I went to a hotel, thinking it’s going to be in a meeting room, a hotel room, blah blah blah, in private. A private meeting. No, it’s out with everybody. Everyone’s drinking their White Claws, eating their steaks, people are snapping photos. It’s anything but private.”
“Cody was great. TK was great. Never at any point did the jacket come up. Never at any point did joining the Nightmare Family come up where I said, ‘I’ll hold it right there; let me stop you right there.’ As a matter of fact, I made my debut by helping Cody. I teamed with Cody; we had a t-shirt together. So that proves that that was not the case.”
Matt Cardona Pitched An Action Figure To Tony Khan
Matt Cardona admitted that he pitched an action figure deal with Tony Khan in their first meeting. He told the AEW boss that he wanted a “Ringside Exclusive” figure to pop up on screen during his debut, which Khan rejected.
“I will admit this: I did pitch this. A hard pitch, that the night I debut, and I already ran it through with Jeremy Padawer to see if it was possible, that the night I debut, a Ringside Exclusive Matt Cardona figure goes up. I did pitch that, but I was turned down on that, but I did pitch it.”
“I don’t think Tony understood that I meant like it’s just a pre-order, like it’s not actually in, you know? Right. And that wasn’t why—we didn’t even have time to really discuss it because there was everybody all over the place, you know what I’m saying?”
He Didn’t Want To Be Stood Behind Cody In A Nightmare Family Jacket
While Matt Cardona didn’t mention the Nightmare Family jacket in their first meeting, he did later on. He said that someone handed him the jacket, which he did not wear.
Cardona said that he wanted to rebuild his career and be his own person after years in WWE as a background character.
“On my last week of what would turn into be my last week of AEW, did Cody or someone—I don’t believe it was Cody, it could have been Cody, I don’t remember—did somebody give me the Nightmare Family jacket? Yes. Did I refuse to wear it? No. Did I put it on? No.”
“Okay, and I did say—I don’t know who I said it to exactly—I was just Zack Ryder for so many years, doing nothing for so many years. I want to rebuild my career. I don’t really want to stand behind Cody wearing a Nightmare Family jacket. That was said.”
READ MORE: Cody Rhodes Recalls Matt Cardona’s ‘Insanely Awkward’ First Meeting With Tony Khan
If you use any of these quotes, please credit the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast with a link to this article for the transcription.
