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Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
Rated T for Teen. My career has been a fight. A long, brutal, but necessary fight. I was told no more times than I can count. And every single time, I proved them wrong. WWE 2K26, available now.
Hello, everybody. Welcome to What Do You Want to Talk About? This is the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes, and this is a Fanatics and WWE original production. Very special day. We are on the grounds, the Buffalo Trace Distillery, and I have a... I have a great guest.
I have one of my five, as I actually said in this very room, somebody that I feel confident, I don't know if he feels the same, in calling him my actual, actual friend, somebody who recently returned to WWE, somebody who also went away from WWE.
set the path ablaze took whatever blueprint there was created an entirely new blueprint I am of course talking about Long Island I see but not just that but not just that the deathmatch King the very complete and recently returned to WWE I mean he's a former everything champion he'll tell you all about that himself ladies and gentlemen I am so excited to present to you Matt Cardona. Oh, yeah.
Thank you, Cody. Thanks for having me. Finally, about time. I could have used the rub when I was on the Indies.
Yeah, no, no. I mean, I came, well, when you were on the path, when you were on the Indies, I came and did your podcast one time, correct? Well, you did it like via satellite. Remote. You're here in person. Which is really the only way to do it. I've been on your podcast before, but it was you and K.O. burying me. Yeah, we'll talk about that. We should talk about that.
You have Louis Vuitton shoes on, huh? I do, yeah. You are incredibly well-dressed. Well, I didn't want to, you know... No, I mean, but this is a look here. You have the whole thing. You have the logo on the cuff, you know? As you see, right?
Yeah, I see.
Show the camera. In terms of... There it is. In terms of... In terms of this fit, you've followed this model basically since you left. I mean, following the journey when you were out there and seeing everything you did, is this the new in terms of the complete Matt Cardone?
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Chapter 2: How did Matt Cardona reinvent himself after leaving WWE?
I didn't need water.
Okay. Well, then I don't want to fall into the category of, you know, thank you. I'm so glad you said it. There is a lot of concern on what's a Cody lie, what's myth, what's legend, what's reality. And I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable coming on the podcast. Sure. So I have a list of topics. Oh, here we go. And I want you to just read them aloud. Yeah, let me get my glasses real quick.
I want you to read them aloud.
Are those real? Do you need to be wearing those or are they for the look? Well, I need to look at the paper here.
Read these aloud. And if you don't like any of these or don't want to talk about any of them, we don't have to. But yeah, perfect. If you just read those aloud.
locker room checker okay not true cody lie cody lie okay i understood we won't touch that one went through my gear without permission are we telling this though i mean we told the story a million times no but that is not a cody live correct do any just read the topics and if any of them sticks out there's some context i did go through your bag there was permission okay okay crumbs make crumb cake that's a famous your statement you taught me that
I quit WWE because of you? I quit WWE because of you. Oh, you quit because you had to lose to me. That is true. I didn't quit. I walked out. Yeah, you quit. I was fired. I was working my ass off. I got fired. You quit. Boo-hoo. God never missed a WrestleMania. Boo-hoo. Okay, the shipping cost on your lightsaber. Okay, that's true. You paid for the shipping cost.
And at the time, I'm just an indie guy. Right? Or was I still with WWE?
I think you're still with the company.
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Chapter 3: What are the challenges of being a wrestler on the indie scene?
Yeah, I like it. It's a good vibe here.
Yeah.
I actually, a couple little touches for you here. I don't know if you see that. I can't say it out loud, but you know what that is, right? I do, I do. And then the Hulk ski for you as well. Very cool.
That's a roller coaster, like Hulk, like roller coaster, islands, like not my thing.
That's a lie. That's a lie. Once you came to HHN with me, you were, you were. I'm not a roller coaster. I need some theming. I don't want to like roller coaster.
High five, dude. That was a cool coaster, bro.
What did you used to say? I don't want to see the parking lot. That was your big thing, man. That breaks you that easily. Yeah. I don't want to, you know, the immersion. You need the immersion because you're in a world filled with immersion. Is that it? That's my reasoning for it. If I do all this to escape, I want to escape.
Yeah. If I'm there, I want to be there, you know?
A new segment we do, our friends at WWE 2K. Right now, if you could, I guess, fantasy book yourself in any dream match. You've got 400-something roster members. You've got men can wrestle women now. Three stages of hell has been added to the game. It's the best it's ever been. Obviously, you just came back. I'm not in the game. Well, you just came back, so give us...
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Chapter 4: How does Matt Cardona view his career trajectory?
There it is. Thank you. As Matt Cardona. That's pretty damn cool. I'm... I think we've all talked about it. T-shirt, action figure, video game. You get those three, you've made it. Okay, that's great. That's a stiff handshake.
Yeah, I'm getting old, dude. I wear glasses now.
You lie about your age, don't you?
Huh?
You still lie about your age?
How would I lie about my age? You lie about your height. No, BS. Bro, the one time I went to the park with you and you had those new shoes on, I'm not going to say their names, that were on Instagram. They give you the extra inch.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, and every photo leaned forward.
You're the one who goes with a sleeveless shirt oiled up. I've never oiled up, no. You've never gone sleeveless? I have gone sleeveless.
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Chapter 5: What insights does Matt Cardona share about his wrestling journey?
Whatever. And I knew. That does it really matter? I wasn't mad at him. I was of the thought, this moment doesn't. We're about getting this crowd excited. Our narratives are not going anywhere in terms of we're not trying to build upon something that doesn't exist.
And there are certain moments in wrestling that's, and certain psychologies and things where it's, oh, that's so wrong or that's so right. You do find yourself in those scenarios where I have now said, eh, does it really matter? Right. You know, like maybe overthinking the point here. But that was that was one of my favorite things.
The fact that I could go to you and essentially lie and say, oh, he said, like, oh, you over. And then I knew because I don't think I told you. No, no, no. Yeah. I don't think I told you that because, you know, the talent relations guy. That's what he said to me on the way out. I'll see you next week. And I loudly said, no, you won't.
Chapter 6: How does Matt Cardona describe his relationship with his father?
And I kept going. And then I wasn't there the next week. Sammy Zane always talks about, he was booked against me on the live events and I wasn't there. And he like selfishly is like, well, I had to wrestle. Like it's all like, buddy, I was going through it too. But yeah, I didn't know if you knew the full, like how the day went, but it was, it's kind of, It's funny to me that it was you.
That is funny. I did all your moves. The Elbro.
Chapter 7: What are Matt Cardona's thoughts on the evolution of wrestling and its impact on fans?
The Woot Awakening. The Woot Awakening stall suplex. You got to give me the suplex. I counter. But you land and you always tell people you'd give them the spacing. I need some spacing. You need some space. I remember we did it over a ladder.
That was a tricky one. Yeah.
Chapter 8: What does Matt Cardona envision for his future in wrestling?
I didn't want to land in a ladder. Remember when you told me to give you a minute? Cause you asked me, asked me to power bomb you and you knocked the wind out of yourself or I knocked the wind out of you. You might've a little too snug, you know, that starred us with his signature power bomb. Um, well, speaking of the power bomb, what's your least favorite bump to take?
Least favorite bump to take. Um, I hate chops.
That's not even a bump.
Um,
Yeah.
You know? Chop, chop, chop. You got to be in the mood for chops. Yeah, you got to be in the mood. You got to be, like, deep in the match. Yeah. It needs to be, like, a war. Well, you know what I've... Taking a chop, like... Yeah. Ugh. I remember, like, once, like, Mojo, like, snap-married me on a live event. Dude, we should talk about that.
He snap-married me and then, like, ran the ropes and chopped me in the back. I just got up, no-sold it, slapped him in the face. Oh. Do you remember... Do you remember your quote about Mojo? Let's not talk negatively about anybody here.
You've played as much NFL football as him. That's true. Zero games.
But...
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