If there’s one that that we’ve heard wrestlers talk about more openly over the years are the importance of trademarks and intellectual property.
Because of that, Matt Cardona recently filed to the trademark rights for his WWE ring name, Zach Ryder. While he’s stated his Ryder character is dead to him, he hoped to sell Zach Ryder merchandise and do a Matt Cardona vs. Zach Ryder cinematic match.
Unfortunately, that won’t come to fruition as the WWE fought him on the trademark despite letting it lapse, and Cardona backed off since he would’ve lost.
He announced the fight for the trademark was over on Twitter, and then went into greater detail when he appeared on Jason Powell’s Pro Wrestling Room Podcast to explain it in greater detail.
Nah. I tried getting that trademark. Got denied.
You’re fighting The Indy God…The Deathmatch King…The King of the Sea…
MATT CARDONA!!! https://t.co/oQXnkIZBZM
— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) February 7, 2023
The fight is over
While the fight may be over, Cardona is turning the page and moving forward. Special thanks to wrestlingnews.co for the following transcript.
“They did let it lapse (Cardona said about WWE’s hold on the ‘Zack Ryder’ trademark). I applied for it knowing there’s a chance they could fight it and they have so that’s it, I’m letting it go. It would’ve been cool to do a cinematic Matt Cardona versus Zack Ryder match. It’s not gonna happen. I’m not gonna fight — because at the end of the day, it’s their intellectual property. They would win if we ever went to court over it so I tried, they fought it so that’s it, I’m backing down.”
The WWE has never been one to let go of a financial opportunity, so it’s not a surprise they fought him on his trademark application.
While this endeavor didn’t work, Cardona still has his Indy career he’s built since his release from the WWE and he’s quickly become one of the best wrestlers around.
He’s an awesome heel on camera and on social media, and it’s always fun to watch him in action.
There have been rumors that he was open to returning to the WWE, and this is a curious twist that could make that an interesting possibility since Cardona has stated he’d want to return as himself and not Ryder.
We never say never and anything was possible with Triple H running WWE Creative, but since Vince McMahon’s return that could’ve thrown a wrench into things.
We’re looking forward to seeing how this works out and if there’s a future with Cardona and the WWE and Cardona’s career in general.
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