“The Indie God” Matt Cardona made his primary roster return to WWE for the primary time in over five years as his former persona, Zack Ryder, complete together with his old theme song, “Radio,” and his “Broski” branding Friday night on “WWE SmackDown.”
Ryder, who performed as Cardona in a loss on “WWE NXT” last month, took on LA Knight within the “Last Time is Now” tournament for the possibility to tackle John Cena in his final match at Saturday Night’s Primary Event.
The pair went back-and-forth within the fast-paced match, which lasted over eight minutes. Knight dodged a Rough Ryder, but was dumped out of the ring and sent into the steps spine first. Knight attempted an elbow drop off the highest rope, but Ryder moved out of the best way and was in a position to hit the Rough Ryder on “The Megastar,” but Knight kicked out. Ryder went to hit one other Rough Ryder, this day without work the center rope, but Knight caught him and hit an influence bomb. Knight got the victory off the BFT, and can move on within the tournament, though his next round opponent has yet to be named.