Last year, Chelsea Green made her return to WWE as a surprise entrant in the Women’s Royal Rumble match. Since then, Green has claimed two reigns as WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion, all while captivating the WWE Universe with her fearlessness in the ring and her entertaining character on the screen. The WWE Universe aren’t the only ones backing Green, though, as her husband and fellow wrestler Matt Cardona also continues to root her on from the sidelines.
Instinct Culture’s Denise Salcedo recently caught up with Cardona to discuss Green’s current success in WWE, which has made him extremely proud.
“When she made her return and she was in the Royal Rumble, I think she was in for like four or five seconds. I saw the social media response and they were like, ‘She’s getting buried,’ blah, blah, blah. And I was thinking, ‘You idiots. You don’t realize everyone’s talking about her.’ Chelsea gets it; she knows what it’s all about,” Cardona said. “It’s not about the moves. It’s about the moments. And every second she’s on television, she makes people remember her.
“Now she’s letting people remember that she can actually wrestle. She can actually do some crazy stuff. You talked about the Money in the Bank falling through those tables off the ladder, or this Dumpster Match [against Michin]. This wasn’t even on television, she did this during the commercial break, which I think she’s crazy for doing, she did the coast-to-coast dropkick like RVD and Shane McMahon. I’m like, how do you do that during the commercial? So there’s some fan footage, but she can go in the ring. She’s very entertaining. I think she’s the complete female competitor. So it makes sense that she’s married to me, ‘The Complete’ Matt Cardona. I’m super proud of her.”
Supporting Green Through The Ups & Downs
In April 2021, Green found herself caught in a wave of WWE releases, just months after a wrist injury plagued her WWE SmackDown debut. Following her initial exit from WWE, Green returned to the independent scene, while also rebuilding her name in Impact Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance.
Green’s work (and tenacity) seemingly impressed WWE officials so much that they eventually offered her an opportunity to come back to the company less than two years later. And according to Cardona, it was rightfully deserved.
“When [Chelsea] got fired the first time, I tried to make her feel better,” Cardona recalled. “I’m like, ‘But you got two action figures out of it, right?’ When she was going back, I was like, ‘Those action figures don’t even count. You got to go back.’ I’m so glad that she went back because she never really got a taste. I think every pro wrestler needs to feel the big time. Everyone wants to be at the top. And if they say they don’t want to be at the top, I think they’re lying. So I’m so glad that she got to go back.
“She got the opportunity to go back and she’s been absolutely killing it ever since. Tag team titles, Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank. Now this Dumpster Match, which could have just been a throwaway ha-ha match on SmackDown, we’re talking about it weeks later. I’m sure it’s going to be a story on SmackDown for the next couple of weeks. She turns anything into gold.”
Watch Denise’s full interview with Matt Cardona below: