Several years ago, The Undertaker taught Matt Cardona, formerly known as Zack Ryder, an important, albeit embarrassing, lesson about respect.
In a clip from his “MC! True Long Island Story” show, Cardona described how “The Deadman” once made him and Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) apologize for being on their phones at a WWE live show.
“One time I got in trouble by The Undertaker for being on my cellphone,” said Cardona. “It was overseas, we were in Mexico. I believe the main event is Vladimir Kozlov vs. Triple H. This is like the last night of the tour, so how many times have I seen this match?
“So like all the boys, all the wrestlers, fellow wrestlers are sitting, watching the monitor. And Hawkins and I are on our phone. Hawkins claims he was just checking the time at this exact instant. But The Undertaker gives The Undertaker head snap, you know? Basically, you know, [you’re being] disrespectful for being in your phone, blah blah blah, and he’s pretty pissed. And I’m like okay, this is The Undertaker, locker room leader, pissed.”
Cardona described how veteran WWE Superstar Mark Henry told him that he and Hawkins should apologize to The Undertaker. The former WWE Intercontinental Champion recapped this apology and how “The Phenom” responded by telling Cardona and Hawkins to apologize to the men involved in the match.
“Hawkins and I, we pull [Undertaker] aside, we apologize and he’s super cool about it,” said Cardona. “Super cool, you know, because we were very respectful. Super cool, but he’s like you really need to apologize to the guys in the main event. Now we have to stooge ourselves off to Triple H.”
“So Triple H, I’ll never forget this, he’s in like a private dressing room. And we’re like [makes knocking sound,] ‘Um, excuse me, Triple H? Um, we were on our cellphones during your match, and we’re really, really sorry. That was very disrespectful,’ or whatever we said. And he played it off like he didn’t care, but I was like, oh man.”
Cardona joked that he’s sure this incident didn’t do him any favors, and he noted the irony in WWE’s eventual encouragement of social media activity backstage.
RELATED: Matt Cardona Looks Back On The Evolution Of Zack Ryder, Creating His ‘Long Island Douchebag’ Look
