Matt Cardona has revealed the confusion surrounding his ring name for his return in the John Cena tournament, as well as his decision to use his real name after signing with WWE.

Cardona returned to WWE in November for The Last Time Is Now tournament, where he wrestled under his former WWE name, Zack Ryder, for the first time since his release from WWE. He recently spoke to “The Wrestling Classic” about the uncertainty surrounding his ring name ahead of the match.

“So, for that John Cena tournament, I actually do wrestle as Zack Ryder. But I didn’t know. I’m thinking I’m coming as Matt Cardona, right? And then like a couple of days before, I get a text like, ‘Hey, we sent some t-shirts over for you to approve.’ I’m like, ‘How do you have my Matt Cardona logos?’ They’re like, ‘Oh, no, you’re Zack Ryder.’ I was like, ‘Oh, no,'” he said. “[I was thinking] ‘I need new Zack Ryder gear’ because I had sold off all my stuff except for like the meaningful stuff. I’m not going to wrestle on SmackDown in my WrestleMania 32 gear. So I had to overnight get Zack Ryder gear made.”

He revealed that he wasn’t sure if he would come out as Zack Ryder or Matt Cardona for the John Cena tournament, with WWE eventually deciding to bring him back as Ryder.

“And then even at the building that day, I had like my Zack stuff, my Matt stuff, and I was hidden all day in a room. And I’m like, ‘Listen, I’m fine with being whatever you want me to be. Just get somebody to tell me which one.’ So it was back and forth all day. And I came out as Zack Ryder, sold a bunch of t-shirts, it was awesome,” he said.

After WWE asked him to use the Zack Ryder name, he assumed that the name would be used upon his return to the company. However, when WWE changed its mind and asked him to use the Matt Cardona name instead, he once again had to create new gear ahead of his long-awaited return.