Matt Cardona is still in IMPACT -- for at least the next couple of months.
Fightful ran a since-confirmed report that Cardona was working in IMPACT Wrestling without a contract. In fact, Cardona told us in a new interview that he didn't even know 48 hours ahead of time that he'd be popping up at Hard to Kill.
"Yeah, I thought it was great. It wasn’t something that—usually I’ll use the hashtag AlwaysReady and I think I proved that it’s legit. The pay-per-view was a Saturday, I got a text message on a Friday while I’m at the gym asking if I wanted to come to work. I responded, ‘Always ready,’ and I was. It was such a cool environment to make a debut," Cardona said.
Cardona was happy with how his IMPACT debut happened, and was even happier that he was able to keep it a secret.
"It’s so hard in wrestling, especially in this era where there’s this no fans and a lot of things are taped in advance, it’s hard to make an impact, no pun intended. But, this was, I use the term ‘figure fate’ a lot, I guess this was like wrestling fate. The wrestling gods decided, ‘Yeah, you know what? I’m going to shave my body and get a confidence tan Thursday night,] then I’m in the gym doing bis and tris Friday and I’m asked if I want to come to IMPACT!’ I’m like, ‘Well, I’m already shaved. I’m already tanned up. I might as well,’ you know? Like, if you look at me right now, I’m actually doing a confidence tan tonight. I’m a little too white," Cardona joked.
Cardona made his appearance against the highly touted Ace Austin, who impressed him in his initial showing.
"Oh, 100%. He’s someone, I’m watching all the product out there. You know, student of the game, so to speak. He’s somebody who I don’t know personally, but I knew, ‘Okay, this kid’s got it.’ To get to wrestle him, and we only had, I don’t know, probably five minutes. But, I could tell just by being in there with him, he’s good, and I would love to wrestle him again in a longer, more competitive match."
Right now, Cardona has a lot going on. He, Brian Myers and Smart Mark Sterling are launching the Major Pod Network, and he has a lot of freedom. That's the way he likes it, but is working the next set of IMPACT tapings.
"Right now, I do not have a long term contract with them, but I have agreed to go to the next set of tapings. So far, so good. I had a lot of fun. I needed that. I hadn’t wrestled since September, but I wasn’t just sitting at home getting fat and being lazy. I was doing all this Major Pod stuff. I didn’t even realized that, ‘Oh, a couple of months have gone by. I better get in the ring and start training again,’ and before I could even do that, I’m getting called to wrestle on pay-per-view. But, just being there for those couple of days, I needed that. I didn’t even realize that just the fact that, ‘Okay, well now I need new gear. I need to think about that. Now I need to get in the ring and start trying some new things.’ I was missing that part of my life, and I’m glad I had that with IMPACT. I really believe that IMPACT is a good spot for me. I’m not here to prove people wrong and stuff like that. I’m here to prove my supporters right, myself right. I said that on [IMPACT! on AXS] a couple of weeks ago and I just think it’s a good fit. I think IMPACT! and Matt Cardona have both had highs and lows and I think we’re both on the up. So, I can’t wait to see what happens," said Cardona.
You can see our full interview with Matt Cardona at the top of the page, and can check out the Major Pod Network at this link!
