When NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Matt Cardona made his first NWA appearance, it wasn’t exactly a match made in heaven between wrestler and promotion.
In fact, as Cardona explained as the guest on this week’s episode of Under the Ring with Phil Strum (recorded prior to his recent injury), he did the opposite of endearing himself to the locker room when he first arrived.
“I was saying things like, ‘I thought NWA sucked as a kid,’ I thought it was old and dated and boring then, and I was saying I still think it sucks now,” Cardona said. “It’s still old and dated and boring, and I could tell a lot of people were not happy about that.”
Things have improved since then, with Cardona noting that as he’s now the top champ in the promotion, “I’m doing something right.”
One of the things Cardona says suits him best about NWA is that no one is telling him what to say.
“What I love about NWA, there is no script,” he said. “There are no writers, there wasn’t even an outline. It was, ‘OK, Matt, you’re going to talk in this segment … go!'”
Listen to the entire episode above to hear Cardona talk about:
- What’s helped his career longevity, and why he thinks he’s better than ever today
- Why the constant travel is actually “the easy part” of his fast-paced life
- How he changed his future when he was unhappy with his place in WWE by figuring out how to use the internet to his advantage
Under the Ring drops new episodes every Monday, as Strum uses the connections he’s made from decades covering pro wrestling to speak with a different but always fascinating personality from the industry. Recent guests have included WWE Superstar Sonya Deville, as well as AEW star Serena Deeb and AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa.
Subscribe to Under the Ring via Apple Music or your favorite podcast provider, or check out Strum’s interviews in video form on the Under the Ring YouTube channel.