Matt Cardona currently reigns supreme in the National Wrestling Alliance, as he holds the Ten Pounds of Gold. The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion will face a tall task when he defends the title against former champion Nick Aldis on the second night of the Crockett Cup event on March 20.
Since the beginning of his reign, Cardona has helped generate more buzz for the company, as the Internet Champion has used his extensive reach on social media and his success in other promotions to promote NWA.
During a recent appearance on My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox, NWA President Billy Corgan was asked to share his thought process behind the decision to bring Cardona into the company. Corgan that Cardona “barged his way in” before he explained that the champion has heat in the locker room due to the way he has spoken about the company in less-than-favorable terms online and in interviews. That being said, he appreciates Cardona’s ability to capitalize on social media and promote himself.
“Well he kinda barged his way in,” said Corgan. “And at some point, I said to him, ‘Look, if you’re going to be here, you can run your mouth all you want, but we’re here to wrestle.’ As Tim Storm likes to say, we settle things in the ring. So you know, the thing about Cardona that’s confusing is, he’s got a lot of heat with a lot of people in the company. They don’t like the way he’s talked about the company, they don’t like the way he’s positioned himself.
“But as an entrepreneur myself particularly in the music field, I appreciate that at some point, you just gotta make some noise. And Matt Cardona was certainly overlooked as a talent when he’s been other places. He, whether you wanna call him a shameless self-promoter or somebody who’s figured out how to game the system and take advantage of social media and stuff like that as a way to promote his brand, I respect that as a promoter. So what he brings to the NWA is valuable. He’s a great professional wrestler, and he’s obviously now a champion.”
Corgan also touched on what Cardona brings to the company by noting that the reigning champion has a sense of “modern-style”; the NWA President explained that he’s often seen as a representative of NWA’s “throwback” style, but he actually aligns more with Cardona’s contemporary methods.
“But he also brings a sense of modern-style, which I’m all about,” Corgan said. “So even though I’m positioned as the guy who sort of represents the throwback part of the NWA, I’m actually much more progressive than I appear to be in public. And so in many ways, I lean more towards Matt Cardona’s vision of where the NWA needs to go than what people would assume about me, given my age and the history that I grew up in with professional wrestling. So we kind of align more than people might think.”
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Still, Corgan emphasized that he wants his champions to handle themselves professionally before he pointed out some of Cardona’s controversial actions, such as threatening to throw the title away. Though he explained that he believes these antics are just “hot talk”, Corgan wondered what will happen when Cardona steps into the ring with one of the “greatest champions of all time” in Aldis.
“That said, I expect champions to do business the right way, and he’s been very difficult to deal with as far as the booking,” said Cardona. “He threatened to do a Shane Douglas and throw the thing in the trash and all that type of stuff. I think it’s just a lot of hot talk, which is fine. It works well on social media. But at the end of the day, he’s gonna be across one of the greatest champions of all time in Nick Aldis. And Nick likes to quote that oft-quoted line by Mike Tyson, which is everybody’s got a plan until you get punched in the face.
“So it’ll be very interesting to see what happens with Matt Cardona when he gets punched in the face by a bigger guy, a guy who held the title for over three years, a guy who’s succeeded on every level of professional wrestling.”
Fans won’t have to wait long to see the bout between Cardona and Aldis; they’ll clash at NWA Crockett Cup Night Two on March 20; the show will air on FITE.
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