Matt Cardona is one of the hottest things going in professional wrestling today, but he didn’t exactly get the greatest reaction when he created the Internet Championship during his WWE tenure.
Matt Cardona was a guest on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast and talked about how happy he is with his career at the present time. Cardona won the GCW Championship in shocking fashion from Nick Gage and appears on IMPACT Wrestling regularly, and he said that while he loved his time in WWE, it’s a great feeling to be able to do whatever he wants, whether it’s successful or not.
“I believe success is how happy you are. Not how much money you have or how famous you are, it’s how happy you are with yourself. When you look in the mirror, are you happy with yourself? And right now, I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long, long time because—not that I had handcuffs in WWE, I’m not saying that, I loved my time there. But the handcuffs are off. I can do whatever I want, I can say whatever I want, try whatever I want, and not everything I do is gonna be a success. I might fall flat on my face. But all I’ve ever wanted was opportunity,” Cardona explained, “and right now I’m just taking all these opportunities. And IMPACT, GCW, whatever it is, I’m gonna try to hit a home run. I might not, I might hit a single. I might strikeout. But I’m gonna try.”
Cardona also shared Triple H’s reaction to him creating his own Internet Championship in 2011, a response to his growing popularity due to his Z! True Long Island Story series. Cardona says he really wanted it to be a serious thing, but Triple H was one of the people in WWE that didn’t appreciate it and called him a mark for himself.
“I wanted it to be taken seriously, so I spent like 1500 bucks, got a real belt made. And I brought it to TV to try to show Triple H, Vince, whoever [and to ask], ‘can I wear this on television?’ I just told this story on the podcast, and there are witnesses to this story. It’s during the day and everyone’s around the ring. It’s the rehearsal, Triple H is running the rehearsal. And I don’t remember if I’m wearing the title, or I have it on my shoulder, in my hands, whatever. And he says, ‘You’re such a mark for yourself.’ And I respond with something like, ‘Listen, I don’t really think I’m the champion of the internet, it’s a gimmick, like the Million Dollar title.’ And he says something like, ‘If this was ten years ago, the whole locker room would have kicked your ass.’ And I said, ‘Well, the whole locker room loves me.’ And then he said that’s why the houses are half empty. There was definitely some resistance to what I was doing.”
Read More: Matt Cardona Respects Nick Gage Despite Their Heated Rivalry: ‘He’s One Tough SOB’
The full interview is available below:
