On a recent edition of the “Wrestling with Freddie” podcast, Matt Cardona discussed his utilization of social media while working for WWE and how it served as a model for contemporary wrestlers regarding its use.
Cardona utilized Twitter and his own YouTube series to amplify his rivalries and persona, ultimately boosting his popularity during that period. He said,
“I don’t want to say I’m the first person to incorporate social media into my storylines, but I’m definitely one of the first people, with my YouTube show back in the day. Me and [Dolph] Ziggler, we took this ‘midcard story’ and added so much to it because of our back-and-forth tweets, he stole my girlfriend on my YouTube show, or he attacked me in my hotel room. This was stuff that wasn’t done before, but now it doesn’t have to be week-to-week and that’s it. Look at what Drew McIntyre and CM Punk have been building on social media. They’ve made the story so much more intriguing and you want to see the eventual match because of all the trash talking they’re doing, not just on Monday nights.”
In 2020, Cardona was released from his WWE contract due to budget cuts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, thus ending his 15-year tenure with the company.
