A popular WWE Superstar posted a message on social media after losing his match on the latest edition of Friday Night SmackDown. The show took place at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

After getting attacked by Randy Orton last week, Matt Cardona interrupted The Viper’s opening promo and took him out to set up a match for later in the show. However, the night did not end well for the former Zack Ryder as the 2026 Men’s Elimination Chamber Match winner emerged victorious in a contest that lasted only about six and a half minutes.

Earlier today, Matt Cardona took to Instagram to post a picture of the titantron from the arena showing the match graphic for his bout against Randy Orton. Despite the loss, the 40-year-old added an encouraging message in the caption, seemingly referring to his journey back to WWE after all those years. He could also have been referring to the fact that he wrestled The Apex Predator despite the latter injuring his arm last week.

“Don’t quit…don’t take no for an answer……,” Cardona wrote.

You can check out his Instagram post below:

Matt Cardona explained why he wrestled Randy Orton on WWE RAW despite his injury

After the show, Matt Cardona took to X (fka Twitter) to address his loss against Randy Orton.

The former WWE United States Champion pointed out that Orton injured his arm last week. He further explained why he agreed to fight The Viper despite not wanting to.

“Last night I was in the main event of #SmackDown… @RandyOrton injured my arm last week. I didn’t want to fight Randy last night to win. I was fighting to show Randy that he can’t just go around and do whatever he wants and expect to get away with it. I was at a disadvantage, but that’s not an excuse. I wanted the fight, and I got my a** kicked. I lost,” Cardona wrote.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Matt Cardona following his recent loss at the hands of the number one contender for the Undisputed WWE Championship.