Matt Cardona Reacts To Cody Rhodes Name-Dropping Him On WWE Raw

Cody Rhodes apologized to the WWE Universe on last night's "WWE Raw" for his failure to dethrone Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39. Through an impassioned speech, Rhodes also revealed the advice he received from "a dear friend, Matt" following his loss to Reigns, and why Matt's words got him to introspect about his road ahead in the wrestling business.

"I heard two things after that match," Rhodes said. "One of them was from a dear friend, Matt, who said, 'Well, being in the main event of WrestleMania was a win in and of itself. At this point in your career, do wins and losses even matter?"

Rhodes disagreed with the advice, stressing emphatically that "wins and losses do matter" and that he was more focused than ever in his renewed pursuit of the top prize in the business. 

As for "the other thing" that Rhodes heard following his loss to Reigns, he pointed to Paul Heyman's comments that he would "have to earn" another shot against "The Tribal Chief" for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

Fans who watched the segment were convinced that the "dear friend" Rhodes was referring to Matt Cardona. However, several others also suspected that Rhodes was possibly talking about The Young Bucks' Matt Jackson, especially since he made a reference to his time as "an EVP" of AEW during the promo.

Later in the night, Cardona confirmed that Rhodes was referring to him in the promo, as seen in the tweet below.

Hi @CodyRhodes

— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) April 11, 2023

Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar is expected to main event the upcoming WWE Backlash premium live event. At the end of last night's promo, Rhodes issued a challenge to "The Beast" for a match at the Puerto Rico event. WWE has confirmed that Lesnar will be in attendance at next week's "Raw" in North Little Rock, Arkansas to answer Rhodes' challenge.