Matt Cardona GCW ECW — Image Credit: GCW

Matt Cardona On Throwing The ECW TV Title Away: I Didn’t Want To, But I Had To

January 16, 2022

Matt Cardona‘s short-reign as the ECW World Television Champion is seemingly over.

After “The Deathmatch King” defeated ECW legend Rhino at GCW Most Notorious on January 14, he held up the ECW World Television Championship (which he brought to the ring in a sack), and the ring announcer reluctantly named him as the new champion. Rhino was the last titleholder before ECW shut down in 2001, so Cardona’s victory technically ended his reign.

But the very next day, the Internet Champion took matters into his own hands. At GCW Say You Will, Cardona noted that WWE, who acquired ECW in 2003, could hit him with a cease and desist for walking around with the title and calling himself the champion. For this reason, he paid homage to Madusa and threw the championship into a trashcan. He also told former ECW boss Paul Heyman to kiss his “tan ass”, in reference to the brief time they worked together in WWE prior to Cardona’s release in 2020.

I didn’t want to do it…but I HAD to do it.

I had to throw the ECW Television Championship in the garbage.@GCWrestling_ #GCWSayYouWill pic.twitter.com/eAjxXTNhY1

— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) January 16, 2022

Cardona now turns his attention to GCW’s sold-out show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, The WRLD On GCW, where he’ll battle Joey Janela. In a tweet on January 16, Cardona looked ahead to the event and thanked his former boss, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, for teaching him what he knows and helping him become the “King of Independent Wrestling.”

I hope @VinceMcMahon will come and watch from the curtain like he does for all @TheGarden shows!

Thank you Vince for teaching me everything that has turned me into the King of Independent Wrestling! pic.twitter.com/iywvvd7mFj

— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) January 16, 2022