NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Matt Cardona Confirms Injury, Will Require Surgery
Matt Cardona's run as one of the biggest stars in independent wrestling hit an unfortunate speedbump over the weekend. After dropping the Impact Wrestling Digital Media Championship to Rich Swann at REVOLVER Vegas Vacation, Cardona suffered an arm injury during a match with Blake Christian at GCW Downward Spiral later that same night. Cardona then took to Twitter on Tuesday to confirm he had suffered a torn bicep and would need to cancel some upcoming bookings. Cardona currently holds five championships, most notably the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship that he's supposed to defend at the NWA Alwayz Ready event on June 11 against former champion Nick Aldis. NWA has yet to respond to the news, but Cardona will likely have to relinquish the championship if he's out of action for a considerable period of time.
"Got a MRI today. Bicep is torn. Surgery needed. Will unfortunately need to cancel some dates," Cardona wrote. He also shared a clip from the Christian match that seemingly resulted in his injury.
After being released by WWE in 2020, Cardona had a brief stint in AEW before arriving in Impact in January 2021. However, it wasn't until he unveiled his new heel persona in GCW that his popularity exploded, making him one of the most in-demand wrestlers not signed by either WWE or AEW.
"I didn't really do anything until this year where I was like okay, you know, the world's kinda opening back up," Cardona told WrestleZone last November "I felt more safe, and I just went out there, and like my schedule is fully booked. I'm doing something every weekend and I love it. I love it, I love that I get to go out there. For instance, the other night, New York City, GCW. Then I drive to Pennsylvania, like Bumblef—, Pennsylvania, wrestle this kid who was once the Broski of the Week on my YouTube show. And then the next day, I do something for the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast. So I'm living my dream, and I'm having so much fun. This is the most fun I've had in my entire career."
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