“The Indie God” Matt Cardona made his main roster return to WWE for the first time in over five years as his former persona, Zack Ryder, complete 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 in the “Last Time is Now” tournament for the chance to take on John Cena in his final match at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
The pair went back-and-forth in 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 top rope, but Ryder moved out of the way and was able to hit the Rough Ryder on “The Megastar,” but Knight kicked out. Ryder went to hit another Rough Ryder, this time off the middle rope, but Knight caught him and hit a power bomb. Knight got the victory off the BFT, and will move on in the tournament, though his next round opponent has yet to be named.
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Read the original article on Wrestling Inc.