"You’re too good to be doing this" - Former IC Champion reveals Chris Jericho gave him major advice in WWE

Chris Jericho is a bonafide legend of the wrestling business. Although fans have recently criticized the 54-year-old, his wealth of knowledge and intuition regarding the industry is second to none. Former WWE Superstar Matt Cardona recently opened up about the guidance he received from the legend.

In 2007, Matt Cardona and Curt Hawkins joined forces with Edge in WWE, at which point they were repackaged. As Zack Ryder, Cardona wanted to differentiate himself from his teammates. However, it was Chris Jericho who put him on the path to success.

In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Cardona revealed that Jericho pulled him aside and advised him to change his wrestling gear if he wanted to be taken seriously:

"Chris [Jericho], whether he knows it or not, he helped me out so many times in my career. A couple of examples, I was doing the one-legged tights for the ‘Woo Woo Woo’ Zack Ryder, because at the time, I wanted to be different from [Curt] Hawkins, different from Edge. I wanted to stand out and it worked. It really did. But one day, Chris pulled me aside, and I’m paraphrasing, [but he] basically said, like, 'You’re too good to be doing this. It worked. But you gotta wear trunks to be taken more seriously.' The next week, trunks. All because of what Chris said." [H/T: Fightful]

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Chris Jericho continued guiding Matt Cardona in AEW

Chris Jericho's lessons didn't end when he departed WWE. Cardona met up with The Learning Tree again in AEW in 2020, and Jericho had more advice to give the recently released star.

Cardona had been with WWE for 15 years and had to learn how to navigate 2020's independent scene, as well as All Elite Wrestling, where he was helping out his friend, Cody Rhodes.

The Indy God revealed in the same video that Jericho gave him some sterling advice regarding his merch and marketing after arriving at Tony Khan's promotion:

"Fast forward, a couple years later, I get fired from WWE. I had my AEW debut. I knew, 'Okay, Zack Ryder is dead. He’s dead. It’s gonna be Matt Cardona,' right? But I thought, 'Okay, I can still, throw up the LI [Long Island hand gesture] right?' I did that. I helped Cody [Rhodes]. I throw up the LI. Chris pulls me aside, he’s not mad at me, but he says, 'You gotta get rid of that s**t. Everything about Zack Ryder has to die.' I’m like, 'Well, Chris, I just put out a t-shirt that says 'Strong Island, doing the LI.' He’s like, 'I don’t care.' He was right. Like, it all had to die." [H/T: Fightful]

Cardona used that lesson to forge a new identity outside WWE, and he quickly became one of the hottest acts in all of wrestling. Meanwhile, Chris Jericho began using his knowledge to guide younger stars as The Learning Tree.