Chelsea Green pays subtle tribute to former WWE star; Matt Cardona reacts

The May 7, 2024, episode of WWE NXT saw Chelsea Green of SmackDown main event the developmental brand. She dueled against NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez in a title match to close out the show on a high. While Green failed to capitalize on the championship opportunity, she did pay a subtle tribute to a former WWE Superstar.

Chelsea Green and Roxanne Perez put up a good fight tonight, and were able to counter and parry each other's moves. This rendered the women unable to use their finishing moves on each other owing to their high defensive awareness. However, Green chose to switch gears and hit Perez with the signature move of former WWE Superstar, Zack Ryder.

The Rough Ryder caught the champion off-guard, stunning her for more punishment. The creator of the move, Matt Cardona, known as Zack Ryder while in the WWE, reacted to the unexpected appearance of his trademark matchwinner on WWE NXT via a tweet on X.

“Rough Ryder! #WWENXT,” posted Matt.

The commentators were also surprised by the sudden execution of the move, with Vic Joseph namedropping ‘Rough Ryder’ after Chelsea Green hit Perez with it. Unfortunately for the blue-brand superstar, this wasn’t enough to put the NXT Women’s Champion away.

The dazed champion managed to hit her own signature move, Pop Rocks, to retain her title and take another win home. While The Prodigy added another title defense to her name, Green’s showmanship also got her a huge pop from fans.

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