Matt Cardona hopes to turn a negative into a positive with his bicep injury.
At GCW Downward Spiral on May 28, Cardona tore his bicep during a match against Blake Christian. He was scheduled to defend the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at NWA Alwayz Ready on June 11, and while he appeared at the event, he was stripped of the title because he was unable to compete.
In an interview with MuscleManMalcolm ahead of the pay-per-view, Cardona discussed the early stages of his recovery. He made it clear that, despite this setback, he plans to come back in the best shape of his career.
“Now with this arm, I can only do left arm, like left bicep, trice, shoulder, some abs,” said Cardona. “Once this thing gets off and I can start sweating, I’ll do some cardio. But I can’t just let myself get fat and out of shape. I gotta come back in the best shape ever, that’s the goal. It’s gonna be tough, but I’m gonna do it. That’s the goal.”
Though the interview was recorded before Alwayz Ready, the then-champion noted that he’d understand why NWA President Billy Corgan would strip him of the title, given his injury. That said, he looked back on his reign with the Ten Pounds of Gold and pointed out that he took it around the world and made the title more beat-up.
“When I won the title, I prided myself on being someone who took it everywhere and brought it all over the world,” said Cardona. “And if you look at the title right now, it doesn’t look new. When I won it, it looked brand new. I thought it was a replica. ‘Oh, this is a nice replica. Oh no, that’s the real title.’ But now it’s all scratched up. It’s dirty, there’s blood on it, and that’s how the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship should look.”
Looking ahead, Cardona noted that he’s confident in his abilities and shared his assumption that he’d get a rematch when he recovers. For now, he’ll focus on rehabbing his arm and making the most of the next few months by fulfilling “a lot of” the appearances he had been scheduled for.
“I will be rehabbing,” said Cardona. “Fortunately I will be doing a lot of the appearances I was scheduled to do all summer. Going to Australia, still doing stuff for NWA, stuff for GCW, I will be doing that. I have the ‘Major Wrestling Figure Podcast’, we do a lot of live podcasts or we have comic cons, I’ll get doing stuff like that. The next three weeks is the first real break I’ve had in a long, long time. I can’t really enjoy it, I’m in this [cast].”
The full interview is available here:
RELATED: Matt Cardona Undergoes Bicep Surgery, Looks Forward To His Return
