Matt Cardona shocked the wrestling world when he dethroned GCW World Champion Nick Gage at GCW Homecoming: Part One. As buzzworthy as this victory was, the crowd’s hostile reaction was just as controversial. The fans in attendance threw bottles and various objects at Cardona in order to voice their frustration.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Cardona looked back on his win and explained how he was proof that he can’t be counted out, no matter what.
“So many times in my career, whether it be like office people, or fans or even sometimes myself, I counted me out, like, ‘This is it, I’m never coming back from this,'” said Cardona. “But time and time again, I prove that I can. And everybody counts me out, but my fan base…they drive me, and it motivates me, and I don’t want to prove people wrong, I want to prove people right. I think winning that GCW title, like God—-it, that proved people right.”
Cardona made it clear that he’d never encountered a crowd that truly hated him so much, and he admitted that he had some genuine concern for his safety as soon as he walked through the curtain. He described the atmosphere by saying it felt like people really wanted him to die in the ring.
“I’ll be honest, there was some fear, like walking through that curtain, you can watch the replay on FITE, like I can’t even get through the curtain and there are [already] fans in my face,” said Cardona. “And luckily, GCW had some security for me because [otherwise] I think someone would have took me out or tried to.
“You could just feel the genuine hate, and not like, ‘Oh, this is a bad guy we’re supposed to boo.’ Like hate, and during the match, the atmosphere was exciting, like people, they just wanted me to die in there. Like I was getting tweets like people wanted me to die. And then when I win, bro, I mean, you saw the video, they were just throwing stuff, some bottles, full bottles, empty bottles, someone threw a f—— pizza cutter, like Jesus, come on. And like I tried to enjoy it, but I was genuinely like concerned, like this isn’t stopping.”
The clip of the fans throwing objects at Cardona has practically gone viral, but the reaction didn’t stop there. In the interview, Cardona recalled how some fans chased him through the venue, even after he left the ringside area.
“I didn’t know what was gonna be thrown,” said Cardona. “I had no idea, but I was in there as long as I could, I tried to get the money shot with the title, and then the GCW security’s like, ‘Yo, we gotta go, we gotta go out the front, run out the front.’ So they brought me out, and fans were still chasing me out through the front, through the Showboat Casino, it was wild.”
"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
Despite this dangerous atmosphere, Cardona emphasized his pride in the match and the outcome. He expressed his satisfaction with his performance and the sentiment that people enjoyed the show, one way or another.
“I’m very, very proud of it,” said Cardona. “Did I want to get injured by fans? Absolutely not, but I wanted people to enjoy the show. And that’s why I put my body on the line because listen, I’d talked a big game, I had to deliver, and I feel like I did.”
The full clip is available here:
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