Joe Galli wonders whether Matt Cardona could borrow from Cody Rhodes’ playbook and wrestle despite a significant injury.
Cardona was set to defend the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship against Nick Aldis at “Alwayz Ready” the event named after him. But the champion tore his bicep at GCW Downward Spiral on May 28 and subsequently had surgery. He is still confirmed for the show, but it’s unclear that the company has planned for the title.
In an interview with WrestleZone ahead of the pay-per-view, Galli, a member of the NWA broadcast team, brought up Cody Rhodes’ remarkable performance at WWE Hell in a Cell when asked about Cardona’s injury. He noted that the latter is passionate about defending the title, so he might have to get tied to a chair in order to prevent him from wrestling, if the NWA that’s the best course of action.
“I think that the wrestling world really saw what elite-level athletes know regards to having injuries recently with what happened at Hell in a Cell in Cody Rhodes, a former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion in his own right,” said Galli. “He had torn muscles as well. It’s basically a similar injury, just a different part of the body, and you can see how it deforms the muscle and all that and the color that was there. It’s an agonizing, horrible injury. You hear about it all time, and with people who are elite-level athletes, whether they’re wrestlers or they’re swimmers or even tennis players, if they get into a car crash, somehow their body heals faster.
“And I don’t know if Matt Cardona has superpowers. He’s having this thing taken care of, he’s having it looked at. But I also know what it means for Matt Cardona to be an athlete, to defend a championship that he holds in high regard. There’s a reason that the pictures that you see of him, yes he’s the champion everywhere else with all these other belts out there, but he usually has Sweet Charlotte around his waist because he realizes the importance and the lineage and the history that that title comes with. And I would have to think that we’d have to tie him to a chair to stop him competing. So I don’t know how it’s all gonna pan out.”
Got surgery yesterday…in the gym today. #StillHere #AlwayzReady
Use code ALWAYZREADY to get 20% off at https://t.co/rNOsZ6XhJF. #MajorFitnessChallenge @majorwfpod #innovapharm pic.twitter.com/NonhZpmKst
— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) June 8, 2022
Galli went on to share his belief that the NWA isn’t the kind of promotion that would strip someone of a title or crown an interim championship because the company wants to preserve the prestige of the world title. He also noted that the NWA won’t truly know Cardona’s status until the day of the show.
“We are not an organization that’s just going to be willy nilly, strip somebody of a title or make an interim champion,” said Galli. “There are other places that like to do that, but I don’t think we wanna pollute our championship in that fashion. We wanna have a worlds champion. So I think things are gonna be definitely interesting. I’m not exactly sure how things are gonna work out. And that’s the other thing, too, is we have all these medical experts that are taking a look at Matt Cardona, but it’s our own medical staff that needs to clear him to wrestle. And we’re not gonna know that until Knoxville.”
While Cardona may be a divisive figure in the wrestling world, Galli spoke highly of is athleticism and his ring intelligence. He also gave the champion credit for working hard and representing wrestling.
“As far as Matt Cardona being a champion, yes, not everybody likes to see him in that position,” said Galli. “I think that there’s a lot of people out there that maybe Matt Cardona’s just not their cup of tea. But you cannot deny his athleticism, you cannot deny his ring intelligence, and his physique, and his willingness to put it all on the line, which is probably one of the reasons why he got injured at GCW because of how much he’s working and how much he represents this sport.”
This Saturday…@nwa #AlwayzReady! pic.twitter.com/NsJdmefsuU
— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) June 8, 2022
Galli again teased that fans could see a Rhodes-like peformance from Cardona, and the only way to find out will be to tune into NWA Alwayz Ready.
“At the end of the day, it does appear that Matt Cardona wants to a fighting champion,” said Galli. “And I think it’s gonna be interesting to see if he’s gonna be able to pull off what we saw Cody Rhodes do at Hell in a Cell.”
NWA Alwayz Ready takes place on Saturday, June 11. The event is available to pre-order on FITE now. The pre-show will air on YouTube, and the main card will deliver an action-packed event. The advertised lineup is as follows:
NWA Women’s Tag Team Championship
The Hex (c) vs. The Pretty Empowered
NWA World Tag Team Championship
La Rebelión (c) vs. Commonwealth Connection
NWA World Television Championship
Tyrus (c) vs. Mims
NWA National Heavyweight Championship
Jax Dane (c) vs. Chris Adonis
NWA World Women’s Championship
Kamille (c) vs. KiLynn King
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship
Matt Cardona (c)* vs. Nick Aldis
- Cardona is recovering from bicep surgery, but he is still set to appear at the show.
Taya Valkyrie vs. Natalia Markova (with Taryn Terrell)
Aron Stevens’ Swan Song
Aron Stevens vs. Trevor Murdoch
NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship
Homicide (c) vs. PJ Hawx
Samuel Shaw to compete
The Fixers vs. The Mortons vs. AJ Cazana & “Adorable” Anthony Andrews [Pre-Show]
Rodney Mack vs. Magic Jake Dumas [Pre-Show]
