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Matt Cardona

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Zack Ryder
Born (1985-05-14) May 14, 1985 (age 39)
Merrick, New York[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Brett Matthews[2][3]
Brett Major[3]
Zack Ryder[3]
Billed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Billed weight214 lb (97 kg)[4]
Billed fromLong Island, New York[4]
Trained byMikey Whipwreck[5]
Debut2004

Matthew Joseph Cardona Jr. (born May 14, 1985) better known by his ring name Zack Ryder, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE working on its Raw brand. Upon making his debut in WWE, Ryder formed a tag team with Curt Hawkins where they would go on to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship.

Professional wrestling career

New York Wrestling Connection (2004-2006)

Main article: Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder

Cardona debuted with New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC) in 2004, using the name Brett Matthews. By 2005 he began regularly teaming with Bryan 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.[6] At the next event on June 4 they won a rematch decisively to become Tag Team Champions.[7] 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 in July.[6] on August 27.[7] On September 23 they were entered into a three way match with the champions but Team Tremendous (Dan Barry and Ken Scampi) ended up with the belts.[6] 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 titles until they faced The B.S. Xpress (Tony Burma & Mike Spinelli), who defeated them for the gold on March 26.[7]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Tag team; La Familia (2006–2009)

Main article: Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder
Zack Ryder in 2008

On February 24, 2006, Matthew Cardona signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment.[1] In Deep South Wrestling in Georgia, he was renamed Brett Majors while Myers was renamed Bryan Majors. By October they won the DSW Tag Team Championship from The Untouchables (Dice Domino and Deuce Shade) 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 Siaki and Afa, Jr (The Samoan Swat Team) and The Blue Bloods (William Regal and Dave Taylor).[8] 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.[9]

The team was moved from the developmental league to the main roster in May 2007, changing their last names from Majors to Major. They worked on WWE's ECW brand, winning only their first match[10][11][12] until they were drafted to SmackDown! in June.[13] On November 9 they won a battle royal to receive a WWE Tag Team Championship match, but didn't win.[14]

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.[15] 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 being renamed Zack Ryder.[16] Occasionally referred 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.

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.[17][18] Their victory meant that they were the youngest team to hold the championships.[19] By SummerSlam, La Familia had begun to fracture and Ryder, with Hawkins, went back to appearing on their own. On the September 26 airing of SmackDown, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder lost the titles to The Colóns (Carlito and Primo Colón) in their first televised title defense.[20] On April 15, 2009 Ryder was drafted back to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft, separating the team.[21]

Long Island Iced Z (2009–present)

Ryder made his return to ECW on May 5, 2009 in a backstage segment with General Manager Tiffany. He now sported short 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.[22][23] He lost to Finlay on his first singles match, on May 7's Superstars[24] and would not gain victory until the May 19 episode of ECW on Sci Fi over a local competitor.[23] 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.[25][26] On the November 3 edition of ECW, Ryder entered a love angle with Rosa Mendes who became his valet.[27] He also feuded with Tommy Dreamer, culminating in a match on December 29 where Ryder won to force Dreamer to leave the company.[28]

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 edition of Superstars, defeating Primo. Ryder made his Raw debut on March 1, losing to Montel Vontavious Porter in a Money in the Bank qualifying match.[29] He participated in an untelevised 26-man battle royal at WrestleMania XXVI, being the last person eliminated by the winning Yoshi Tatsu. Mendes was drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2010 Supplemental Draft without Ryder,[30] 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 edition of Raw, Fox attempted to interfere on Ryder's behalf but was stopped by Kim, leading to Bourne winning the match.[31] The two new pairings faced off in a mixed tag team match on the May 17 edition of Raw, which Ryder and Fox lost.[32] Ryder had a return win over Bourne on May 27's Superstars.[33] 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.[34] During the June 7 Viewers Choice Raw, Ryder was voted to team with The Miz, defeating John Morrison and R-Truth.[35] The next week, Ryder had a title shot in a Fatal Four Way match for the WWE United States Championship but lost;[36] months later in August he was given a WWE Championship match against Sheamus which 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.[37]

During this time, Ryder became a mentor on the second season of WWE NXT to Titus O'Neil. They debuted in a losing effort against John Morrison and Eli Cottonwood;[38] O'Neil was the first rookie eliminated from the second season, on June 29.[39] On the July 27 episode of NXT, Ryder lost against Percy Watson, making him the first mentor of season 2 to lose to a rookie in a singles match.[40] For the remainder of the year and well into 2011, Ryder mostly became used on the non-branded Superstars show, occasionally teaming with Primo. Ryder won a 2010 Slammy Award for Most Annoying Catchphrase in December.[41]

In other media

Ryder began a YouTube web series called "Z!, True Long Island Story" in February 2011. The show is a collection of short comments from Ryder, containing comedic allusions to wrestling and pop culture; it also features cameos from his various WWE colleagues.

Currently, Zack Ryder supporters are reaching out to the WWE with Facebook and Twitter asking to Push Zack Ryder

In wrestling

  • Nicknames
    • "The Long-Island Loudmouth"[4]
    • "The Long-Island Iced-Z"

Championships and accomplishments

  • New York Wrestling Connection
    • NYWC Tag Team Championship (2 times)[2][7] with Bryan Myers

References

  1. ^ a b c "Zack Ryder at Online World of Wrestling". Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  2. ^ a b "New York Wrestling Connection Title Histories". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder profile" (in German). Cagematch.de. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  4. ^ a b c "Zack Ryder's WWE Profile". Retrieved 2011-04-05.
  5. ^ WWE Magazine Special - 25 Years of Interviews, September/October 2008, page 49, 2008
  6. ^ a b c "NYWC Results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
  7. ^ a b c d "NYWC Tag Team Title history". New York Wresting Connection. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  8. ^ a b Tanabe, Hisaharu. "Deep South Wrestling Tag Team Title". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  9. ^ a b Gerweck, Steve (2007-06-15). "OVW Six Flags Super Summer Sizzler Series #3 Results". Archived from the original on 2007-06-21. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  10. ^ Bryan Robinson (2007-06-05). "Chairman falling deeper and deeper into the abyss". WWE. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  11. ^ Bryan Robinson (2007-05-08). "Spirit of ECW Splashed". WWE. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  12. ^ Robinson, Bryan (2007-05-22). "Experiencing painful revenge". WWE. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  13. ^ "SmackDown drafts up". WWE. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  14. ^ "Finding the way". WWE. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  15. ^ Dee, Louie (2007-12-17). "A Major revelation". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  16. ^ Dee, Louie (2009-08-12). "Three for All". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  17. ^ "History Of The WWE Tag Team Championship - Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder". WWE. 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  18. ^ Passero, Mitch (2008-07-20). "Out of the shadows, into the golden light". WWE. Archived from the original on 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  19. ^ "Hawkins and Ryder: WWE's youngest Tag Team Champions". WWE. 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  20. ^ Martin, Adam (2008-09-22). "Friday Night Smackdown Tapings - Columbus (Last show on CW)". WrestleView.com. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
  21. ^ "2009 WWE Supplemental Draft results". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  22. ^ Bishop, Matt (2009-05-06). "ECW: Bourne, Kidd steal show". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  23. ^ a b Bishop, Matt (2009-05-20). "ECW: Hart Trilogy keeps Finlay guessing". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  24. ^ Mackinder, Matt (2009-05-07). "WWE Superstars: Jericho tops Morrison". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  25. ^ Medalis, Kara A. (2009-09-15). "No. 1 contender... You know it!". WWE.com. Retrieved 2009-09-16. [dead link]
  26. ^ Medalis, Kara A. (2009-09-22). "Another knock on Christian's door". WWE.com. Retrieved 2009-09-22. [dead link]
  27. ^ Medalis, Kara A. (November 3, 2009). "Wish granted". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  28. ^ Medalis, Kara A. (December 29, 2009). "An Original goodbye". World Wrestling Entertainment. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdateMay 13, 2010" ignored (help)
  29. ^ Adkins, Greg (March 1, 2010). "A long, strange trip to Wrestlemania". Retrieved March 2, 2010.
  30. ^ "2010 Supplemental Draft Results". April 27, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  31. ^ Adkins, Greg (May 10, 2010). "Angered management". Retrieved May 18, 2010.
  32. ^ Adkins, Greg (May 17, 2010). "Without limits". Retrieved May 18, 2010. [dead link]
  33. ^ Johnson, Matt (2010-05-28). "Superstars: Upset in the main event the news coming out of Thursday night". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  34. ^ Plummer, Dale (2010-05-31). "RAW: Ashton Kutcher hosts Killer show". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  35. ^ Plummer, Dale (2010-06-08). "RAW: Vote early, vote often; NXT takes over". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  36. ^ Waldman, Jon (2010-06-14). "Raw: The invasion continues(?)". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  37. ^ Caldwell, James (2010-08-23). "WWE Raw Results 8/23: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Raw on USA Network - Cena vs. The Miz". PWTorch. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  38. ^ Bishop, Matt (2010-06-08). "WWE NXT: New rookies pay as Season 2 opens". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  39. ^ Bishop, Matt (2010-06-29). "WWE NXT: Surprise! First elimination on tap". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  40. ^ Bishop, Matt (2010-07-27). "WWE NXT: Second rookie goes home; New No. 1". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  41. ^ "Supplemental Slammy winners". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2010-12-13. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
  42. ^ "Friday Night SmackDown (February 8, 2008)". WWE Friday Night SmackDown!. 2008-02-08. The CW. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  43. ^ "CALDWELL'S WWE SUPERSTARS RESULTS 7/1: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Christian vs. Hawkins, Raw matches". PWTorch. 2010-07-01.
  44. ^ Vermillion, James (2009-06-18). "Packed to the brim". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  45. ^ "WWE SUPERSTARS REPORT: ZACK RYDER CHANGES HIS LOOK; THE BELLAS AND JILLIAN CONTINUE THEIR FEUD". PWInsider. 2010-07-01.
  46. ^ "WWE NXT REPORT: A BIG ELIMINATION AND A BIGGER BRAWL AT THE END OF THE SHOW". PWInsider. 2010-07-01.
  47. ^ "ECW on Sci Fi results - June 2, 2009". Wrestling News Arena. 2009-06-02.
  48. ^ "Superstars: WWE places show in the hands of lesser known talent". SLAM! Sports. 2010-12-09.
  49. ^ "The ECW *7/14) Extreme Examination". Online World of Wrestling. 2009-07-16.
  50. ^ "ECW REPORT: SHEAMUS AND SHELTON TO FEUD?; ZEKE AND VLAD GET BIG VICTORY; ECW TITLE MATCH ANNOUNCED FOR BREAKING POINT (BUT YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT IF YOU READ THE SITE)". PWInsider. 2009-09-08.
  51. ^ "ECW on Sci Fi Results - 5/19/09". WrestleView. 2009-05-20.
  52. ^ "WWE Smackdown results 8/8/08". Lords of Pain. 2008-08-06.
  53. ^ WWE Music Volume 8 CD "WWE the Music Volume 8". WWE. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  54. ^ and Watt White blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&keyID=10888638&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID "Radio (Legal Title)". BMI. Retrieved 2009-09-13. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  55. ^ ""PWI 500": 101–200". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. 2010-07-31. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
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