Former WWE champion reveals major injury scare after facing Chris Jericho; Terrified of timing on potential surgery

A former WWE Intercontinental Champion had major injury concerns after his recent match with AEW star, Chris Jericho. The star disclosed how he was scared of getting injured due to the timing.

Matt Cardona (fka Zack Ryder) disclosed how he was afraid of injury after his match with Chris Jericho. Cardona wrestled Jericho in an ROH World Title match at the Ring of Honor Final Battle pay-per-view in December 2024 where he failed to capture the gold.

Speaking on his YouTube Channel, Matt Cardona revealed that he was scared of a potential ankle injury after his match with Jericho as he couldn't go for surgery at the time:

"After this match, they helped me to the back and I remember thinking like, 'Sh*t,' like A- I have the GCW Hammerstein in a month and also I can't be injured right now, I can't get surgery on my ankle. All the horrible negative thoughts are going through my head and they unzip my boots I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, when they unzip this, my ankles are gonna be popping out like Psycho Sid style but luckily for me that wasn't the case."

Cardona further recalled that the trainers assured him that his ankle wasn't broken:

"It was just sprained, I don't know the official diagnosis 'cause guess what? I never got it really checked out. Because I wasn't gonna take time off right. Once the trainers backstage told me it wasn't broken, I was like, 'okay, I'll get through this.'" [19:50-20:27]

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Chris Jericho is set to defend his World Title this Saturday

This Saturday on AEW Collision, Chris Jericho will be defending his ROH World Title against Bandido.

After Jericho defeated Matt Cardona at Final Battle 2024, Bandido made his return and has been feuding with the former AEW World Champion ever since. Bandido pinned Jericho during a trios match this past week.

It remains to be seen if Bandido could be the one to take the ROH title off Chris Jericho.

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Quotes used from the first half of this article should be credited to 'Matt Cardona on YT' along with an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.