Matt Cardona Gives Advice To Talent Released By WWE
Impact Wrestling's Matt Cardona sat down with Busted Open Radio today and had some advice for some recent WWE releases. Cardona, who was let go from WWE a year ago and saw his fiancée, Chelsea Green, released in April, said the release could work out for all involved, if they're willing to put in the hustle.
"I tweeted this the other day or something similar, even last month when Chelsea and everybody else got released," Cardona said. "This can be the best thing for you, if you do the work. If you, you know, bet on yourself and take a chance on yourself and hustle. But if you just think all these promoters are going to book you and you're going to get all these pay days, that's probably not going to happen.
"Maybe if you're Braun Strowman, but for everybody else you're going to have to work for it and hustle and make a name for yourself again. And make your own merch and, whether it be a side project like a podcast or something, you've got to make it for yourself. Because nobody's going to hand it to you. That I love. I love being in control of my own destiny. Whether I succeed or fail, I just want the opportunity to do that."
Another thing Cardona stressed as important was selling merchandise. He revealed that he is responsible for shipping his own merchandise from his kitchen.
"It's extremely important," Cardona said of creating buzz via merchandise. "If you don't know how to create your own buzz or create your own merch? You need merchandise. And guess what? You're going to have to learn to pack it up. I have this whole shipment statement in my kitchen that my fiancée hates. I pack up everything, I have the label maker, I have the post office coming every morning to pick stuff up. That's what I do.
"That's part of my, I hate using the word brand, but okay. I need to sell merch. That's how I feed myself, and live and pay my bills. I'm not getting this check every week in the mail. If I want money, I have to go out and earn it. So you have to hustle and you have to get it, whether it be wrestling or starting your podcast and making your own podcast or doing whatever your passion is. You need to do that and start knocking down those doors."
Co-host Bully Ray later asked Cardona what he'd like to see change in the wrestling business today. Bringing up his past in WWE, Cardona mentioned how he'd like to see promos become less scripted for talent.
"When I left WWE, and listen I love WWE," Cardona said. "I'm so grateful for everything I ever got there. I wouldn't be talking to you right now if it wasn't for WWE. But I think just the, you've heard it a million times, the scripted promos. It really just needs to go. You need to let these guys find themselves. You really do. When I went to AEW and Impact, at first I was like 'wait, I can just kind of say what I want?' I'm not going to go out there and embarrass the company and embarrass myself. But I know the point I want to get across.
"They give you a bullet point and go 'okay, this is the message, this is the general message now say it your own way.' I feel it should be that way. You need to trust the performer that they're not going to go out and embarrass you on live TV. I get that. But like, let people get over. Like Stone Cold Steve Austin, drinking the beer, flipping people off, like that was the craziest thing. That was awesome in 97, 98. No one can go out and just start flipping off the crowd now, unless it was in the script. It's like 'come on, let the guys be themselves and see what happens.' There's so many talented guys, not just in WWE but everywhere. And they just need to take risks. Not everything's going to work, but that's how you find yourself."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open Radio and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription