Matt Cardona has narrated how he eventually made it back to WWE, after spending nearly six years outside the WWE bubble.

Cardona, who became a huge success in the indie scene following his WWE exit, was vocal about returning to the promotion, which eventually happened at the start of the year. He revealed to Cody Rhodes on the “What Do You Wanna Talk About” podcast that the seeds were sown for his return following his appearance on “WWE NXT” last year.

“So I’m working for TNA, but not technically like under contract. And TNA does the invasion of NXT and they ask to have me. And I know I’m not under contract, but I’m like, I’m gonna sneak in. Sure, I’ll do it,” he said. 

A chance conversation between WWE President Nick Khan and Cardona’s wife and WWE star, Chelsea Green, led to Cardona and Khan having a conversation and eventually re-signing. 

“Do that, leads to a match and Chelsea was doing, I guess media for Rumble in Saudi, and Nick Khan was there. And she said to Nick, like, something like, ‘You see my husband wrestle at NXT?’ And Nick said something like, ‘I’ve always wanted to meet your husband, talk to your husband, give him my number.” She gave me Nick Khan’s number. You know I’m texting immediately, and then, Nick called me right there, said, ‘What do you want?’ I said, ‘I wanna come back.’ And the ball kinda got rolling from there,” said Cardona. 

The former Zack Ryder appeared on the WWE main roster last November as part of John Cena’s Last Time Is Now tournament and a few weeks later, re-debuted in WWE, this time using his real name, the one that brought him recognition on the indies.