Zack Ryder was not very happy with the WWE after being asked a certain request. Ryder, whose real name is Matt Cardona, was among the many WWE Superstars who were fired in April due to the COVD-19 pandemic. However, that didn’t stop the company from asking Ryder a favor: to use his pool for an upcoming episode of SmackDown.
Ryder was on a podcast called The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast with Brian Meyers (also known as Curt Hawkins) as the host. He told the story of WWE wanting to use his pool for a SmackDown segment. “I’m sitting by the pool with Chelsea (Green), and she has a weird look on her face,” Ryder said per Wrestling Inc. “She’s checking her phone, and I’m like, ‘Babe, what’s up?’ She’s like, ‘Uh, someone from WWE asked me if Otis, Mandy Rose, and a camera crew can come here to film a pool scene for SmackDown.’ I was shaking in anger. Shaking in anger. You fired me, but you want to use my pool?”
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Ryder went on to say he “had a tweet sent, and I say this sometimes, ‘Don’t press send.’” He then said he was going to he was angry at the entire situation, but what upset him the most is they didn’t ask him directly, they asked Green. The good news is everything seemed to work out because Ryder told the second half of the story which included “falling in love with Otis.” Ryder said The Miz and John Morrison asked to come over to his place and if they could bring Otis. Miz and Morrison didn’t know the situation, but Ryder was mad at first because he thought they knew.
“I thought it was a rib because they knew the story,” Ryder said. “That pissed me off, too, but then sure enough, Otis shows up! It wasn’t a rib. [Laughs] Listen, I don’t know Otis — I know who he is, obviously, I wrestled him, believe it or not. Dude, this guy is pure entertainment gold. I fell in love with this man.” Ryder was with WWE in some way shape or form since 2005. In his career, Ryder won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, the United States Championship and the Raw Tag Team Championship twice with Curt Hawkins. He developed a big following in 2011 after starting YouTube series Z! True Long Island True Story to promote his character after not seeing much TV time.
