In his pipebomb on last week's "WWE SmackDown," John Cena called CM Punk a "loudmouth opportunist" who takes opportunities from other stars, naming former WWE stars Nic Nemeth, Claudio Castagnoli, and Matt Cardona, whose careers he claimed suffered because of Punk's presence. Cardona's wife and WWE star Chelsea Green discussed the promo and revealed Cardona's initial reaction to his name being mentioned on WWE television.
Cena, unusually, mentioned names of stars who are not currently part of WWE, broke the fourth wall, called Punk a hypocrite, and even used foul language when "SmackDown" was live on air. Cardona, formerlyZack Ryder, shared screentime with Cena during his time on television, but he learnt about his former colleague mentioning him on television from Green, as he was wrestling a match. Green spoke about it during a Fanatics event live stream.
"He's chronically online. He never, ever leaves his phone. He happened to be on his phone, so he wasn't online, didn't know, and I got to break the news to him. [It's] Rare occurrence," Green said. "So I got to tell him, and he was so flustered. He's like, 'I don't understand.' I'm like, 'Just go watch it.'"
Later in the event, Green picked out a Cena card and wanted to take it home with her to gift it to her husband, but that request was denied. Green didn't take no for an answer as she smarmily hit back at them.
"I don't know if you know, he [Cardona] was mentioned in the main event of SmackDown. It's kind of a big deal," she joked.
True to form, Cardona seized the moment by sharing a series of photos and posts featuring John Cena on social media, capitalizing on the unexpected spotlight he found himself in.
