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Update on a TNA wrestler working without a contract

Added 2025-09-26 00:45:56 +0000 UTC

Matt Cardona returned to WWE TV this week as a part of TNA, but WHOSE SIDE IS HE ON?

This week’s episode of NXT featured a TNA invasion. Among the invaders included a number of talent who had been released by WWE over the last five-plus years who hadn’t appeared on WWE TV since. One of those was Matt Cardona, the former Zack Ryder.

Cardona appeared at the end of the NXT episode on September 23. It was the first time he’d appeared on WWE TV in over five years despite making it clear he was open to going back. Based on what we’ve learned, technically he could. Cardona has been working without a TNA contract since returning to the company, and that hasn’t changed.

At one point he’d left TNA as a couple of years back they wanted to move away from working with talent without contracts, but that hasn’t been the case in a while.