Fresh off his brutal match with Nick Gage at GCW Homecoming on Saturday night, Matt Cardona appeared on Busted Open Radio to talk about the match. The new GCW Champion talked about the fan reaction, why he sent out his tweet about Gage, Gage vs. Jericho on Dynamite this Wednesday, and more.
Here are some highlights from the interview:
Cardona was asked what was going through his mind during his entrance and his match against Nick Gage at GCW:
“I’ll be honest. There was some fear. Walking through that curtain, you can watch the replay on FITE, I can’t even get through the curtain. There are fans just in my face. Luckily, GCW had some security for me because I think someone would have taken me out, or tried to. It was impossible for me to get to the ring. Finally, I get there, and you can just feel the genuine hate, and not like, ‘Who’s the bad guy we’re supposed to boo?’ It was hate. The people wanted me to die there. I was getting tweets that the people wanted me to die. They wanted Nick to kill Chelsea. There were human beings typing this on their phone or their computer. What the hell is wrong with these people? Then when I won, they were just throwing bottles, full bottles. Someone threw a f**king pizza cutter. I tried to enjoy it, but I was genuinely concerned, like, this isn’t stopping. This isn’t NWO over the top and I’m going to stand there and smile. I didn’t know what was going to be thrown. I had no ideas, but I was in there for as long as I could. I tried to get the money shot with the title, and then the GCW security were like, ‘Yo, we got to go. We have to go out the front. Run out the front.’ They brought me out, and fans were still chasing me out through the Showboat Casino. It was wild.“
Cardona went on to say:
“I’m very proud of it. Did I want to get injured by fans? Absolutely not. I wanted people to enjoy the show. That’s why I put my body on the line. I talked a big game. I couldn’t just go in there. I had to deliver, and I feel like I did. A part of me wanted to gain some respect from that audience, but they did not care. When there’s a pizza cutter thrown at you, that’s hate.”
Cardona explaining why he sent out a tweet saying he respects Nick Gage:
“This deathmatch style is not for me. It’s not my style. It’s not my style, at all. I’m not a fan of it at all, but I respect that there are people who like it. Who am I to say what’s right and wrong in wrestling? I can’t say that. I always had some respect for Nick. The guy almost died and wanted to keep going in one of his death matches. But after being in the ring with him, and seeing the punishment that he takes, not only the punishment he takes in the ring, but just the love the fans have for him and he has back. My entrance was wild because the people wanted to kill me. His entrance was wild because the people loved him and wanted to touch him. It was something I never experienced before. You would have thought that they were trying to kill him, but they just wanted to bring their king to the ring. I respect the hell out of him. He is one, tough, S.O.B., but it just wasn’t his night.”
Cardona was asked if he will be watching Gage vs Jericho on this week’s Dynamite:
“100%. When I was watching Dynamite last week and that happened, in my head, I’m like, ‘Oh sh*t because I have to go all out on Saturday because I have to make sure that nothing him and Chris do can top my match. That was my honest opinion. It’s great because now people are talking about Nick more, but now I really have to go all out. I really have to put my body on the line because I don’t want to get overshadowed in a couple of days by him and Jericho.”
Cardona was asked where he ranks this moment in his career:
“Wearing that Intercontinental title with my dad coming to the ring, that’s number 1. If this isn’t number 2 or 3, I don’t know what would be. I had a kick-ass deathmatch against this king, I beat him, and then the place legitimately riots. I mean, you can’t really top that. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Busted Open Radio with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Busted Open Radio can be heard on SiriusXM’s Fight Nation (Channel 156), Monday through Saturday from 9 am to Noon eastern.
"I, personally, have never seen anything like that."@TheMattCardona discusses becoming the new @GCWrestling_ World Champion against @thekingnickgage at #GCWHomecoming over the weekend & taking the title to Disneyland, as promised 👀@davidlagreca1 @bullyray5150 pic.twitter.com/XGFOkcpPc9
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) July 26, 2021
What will you find on today's Podcast? 🤔
– @davidlagreca1 & @bullyray5150 discuss @TheMattCardona's win over @thekingnickgage at #GCWHomecoming before being joined by the new @GCWrestling_ World Champ himself, Matt Cardona 👊
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— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) July 26, 2021
