Dolph Ziggler and Matt Cardona: Will WWE Lock Them In or Let Them Walk?

John Cena is on his farewell tour, and WWE just turned the stakes up with a 16-man bracket called 'The Last Time Is Now' to decide who gets the final match. The twist so far: two big surprise returns, both loaded with nostalgia and question marks about what comes next.

So... who showed up?

Dolph Ziggler and Matt Cardona popped back in during the first round. Ziggler hit Monday Night RAW on November 17 and ran straight into Solo Sikoa. Cardona resurfaced on the November 14 SmackDown under his old Zack Ryder name to mix it up with LA Knight. Both got loud reactions. Both lost. And both appearances set off the same debate: was that a one-night sendoff, or are we seeing the start of something bigger?

Where their contracts stand (and why that matters)

• Dolph Ziggler/Nic Nemeth: He was released by WWE in September 2023, tore it up as Nic Nemeth on the indies, then jumped to TNA in January 2024. He won the TNA World Championship at Slammiversary 2024 and held it for 183 days. Sports Illustrated reported TNA extended his deal in January 2025, and that contract is still active. WWE and TNA have been playing nice lately with crossovers, so him popping up on RAW to face Solo Sikoa doesn’t break any rules. After that match, WWE even started selling Dolph Ziggler merch again, which sure feels like more than a one-off tease, even if the TNA agreement currently keeps him non-exclusive to WWE.
• Matt Cardona/Zack Ryder: Totally different situation. After SmackDown, Cardona broke it down on his Major Wrestling Figure Podcast: he signed a short-term agreement to let WWE do merch. That’s it. No full-time WWE deal. He even left the door open for toys and trading cards if WWE wants to move on those rights while they have them.

'I did sign something to let them do merch temporarily. Could there be a Mattel figure? Could there be a Topps card? It’s really up to them, I’ve given them the rights temporarily.'

How the matches actually went

Ziggler came out swinging on RAW and the MSG crowd ate it up, but Solo Sikoa did Solo Sikoa things and moved on in the bracket. Cardona’s SmackDown cameo as Zack Ryder was a quick nostalgia hit, new merch and all, but LA Knight sent him packing in round one. If you’re keeping score, the losses do a couple of things at once: they juice Cena’s last-ride narrative without hijacking current storylines, and they hint that, for now, these returns are more about the moment than a full reset.

What Cena said about Cardona

Cena noticed the Ryder comeback, and he went out of his way to give Cardona his flowers on Raw Recap.

'I was very, very glad to see Zack Ryder come back. Matt is a personal friend of mine, I can speak candidly like that, and I’ve seen his mind grow. You wanna talk about always being curious and the quest for growth, the Zack Ryder I knew from a long time ago has accrued so much sports entertainment wisdom.'

The read between the ropes

If you’re trying to project the next move: Ziggler feels like the one with an actual runway. The WWE store flipping his merch switch back on right after his RAW return is a pretty loud hint, and the ongoing WWE–TNA cooperation makes more cameos totally feasible while his TNA deal remains in place. Cardona, by his own words, signed a narrow merch permission slip. Great for a figure or a card. Not a signal he’s back in the locker room every week.

Bottom line: two buzzy returns, two first-round exits, and a tournament that keeps feeding Cena’s last chapter without stealing it. We’ll see if WWE keeps dialing Ziggler up while the bracket rolls on. Cardona? Fun pop, smart business, probably back to the indie king life unless something changes.