Matt Cardona is a fantastic pickup for AEW

This week's AEW Dynamite saw the debut of two former WWE Superstars. The stars formerly known as Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) and Cameron (Ariane Andrew) unexpectedly showed up on TNT Wednesday to bolster an already impressive roster.

These are far from the first former WWE talents to make the jump to All Elite Wrestling in recent months. Cardona and Andrew joined FTR, Mr. Brodie Lee and Matt Hardy in making the move just this year.

It's been a while since we've seen Andrew in a wrestling ring, but Matt Cardona is not far removed from his release from WWE. He came out firing on all cylinders Wednesday as he pummeled two members of The Dark Order, and he appears to be on a mission to prove WWE made a mistake. Not the mistake of releasing him, but of not fully getting behind him during his decade and half with the company.

.@TheMattCardona has come to the aid of @CodyRhodes.Watch #AEWDynamite NOW on @TNTDrama or https://t.co/GdI7QAsxEP for our International fans. #AEWonTNT @AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/161tf859LM

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) July 30, 2020

Looking at Matt Cardona's list of accomplishments during his time with WWE, it's actually quite impressive. He's a former Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion and multi-time Tag Team Champion. Two of those victories came at WrestleMania — which is two more Championship victories at the Show of Shows than the likes of Bray Wyatt, Sasha Banks and several others.

Yet when looking back on the career of Zack Ryder, he's seen more as a "jobber" than anything else, which in no way is his fault.

Why did WWE never get behind Matt Cardona?

Back in 2011, Matt Cardona was one of the hottest acts in the company. Don't believe it? Just watch this clip of a sold out arena chanting his name — while The Rock was in the ring at Survivor Series.

Just a few weeks later, Matt Cardona won the United States Championship when he defeated Dolph Ziggler at TLC and had followed the victory up with an incredibly emotional celebration with his dad.

Cardona was white hot. Way ahead of his time, he used his YouTube show to get over with the fans and that support catapulted him to his first singles Championship. WWE had the next big star in the making. However, less than a month later he dropped the title to Jack Swagger, and got thrown off the stage in a wheelchair by Kane. The push was over before it really began.

Despite being tossed the occasional big moment, like his Intercontinental Title win at WrestleMania 32, Matt Cardona failed to regain that same momentum his had in 2011-12 over the next eight years of his tenure. That wasn't due to a lack of trying.

Behind the scenes, it seemed as though Cardona was doing everything he could to get that true push he really deserved. That was evidenced by his continued improvement year by year in his physique and in-ring work. His final push of any kind came alongside his longtime friend and partner Curt Hawkins. They won the RAW Tag Team Titles in 2019 and ended up being released together a year later.

https://t.co/2vp5yr8OeP pic.twitter.com/VuMGInAZpN

— Pro Wrestling Tees (@PWTees) July 30, 2020

Matt Cardona will forever go down as one of the most underutilized and misused Superstars in WWE history. He's one of the more influential wrestlers of the last decade than anyone will give him credit for and one hell of a hard worker. Make no mistake, this is a really good get for AEW.

If you look at Matt Cardona and just see him as another spited former WWE guy, that's you buying into the company's view of him and not recognizing the talent and untapped potential of the man himself.

Hopefully, he finally gets the opportunity he never got in WWE: A chance to show he can be a top guy. AEW needs to book him strong out of the gate, and maybe even have him be the one to beat Cody for the TNT Championship.