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Matt Cardona became the GCW World Champion at GCW Homecoming by defeating hardcore legend Nick Gage in the most violent match of Cardona's career.
Throughout their feud, Matt Cardona was the heel, which was to be expected considering the love the GCW faithful have for Nick Gage and all he's done for death match wrestling.
Cardona spoke to Busted Open Radio and opened up about his experience with the fans. He mentioned that he had received death threats not only aimed at him, but also his fiancé, Chelsea Green.
Once inside the arena, Matt Cardona felt the disdain fans had for him, not just as a heel they were meant to boo, but genuine hate. He admitted that he was scared while making his way to the ring. (H/T: WrestlingNews)
"I'll be honest. There was some fear. Walking through that curtain, you can watch the replay on FITE, I can’t even get through the curtain. There are fans just in my face. Luckily, GCW had some security for me because I think someone would have taken me out, or tried to. It was impossible for me to get to the ring. Finally, I get there, and you can just feel the genuine hate, and not like, ‘Who’s the bad guy we’re supposed to boo?’ It was hate. The people wanted me to die there. I was getting tweets that the people wanted me to die. They wanted Nick to kill Chelsea. There were human beings typing this on their phone or their computer. What the hell is wrong with these people?" said Cardona
While every wrestler playing a heel character would dream of heat, this probably went a bit too far and Matt Cardona had genuine reasons to be scared.
Fans hurled objects at Matt Cardona after the match
After pinning Nick Gage, the former WWE Superstar could not even celebrate properly before security had to rush him out as a visibly angered crowd hurled bottles, empty and full, at him. One person even chucked a pizza cutter at the newly crowned champion.
"Then when I won, they were just throwing bottles, full bottles. Someone threw a f**king pizza cutter. I tried to enjoy it, but I was genuinely concerned, like, this isn’t stopping. This isn’t NWO over the top and I’m going to stand there and smile. I didn’t know what was going to be thrown. I had no ideas, but I was in there for as long as I could. I tried to get the money shot with the title, and then the GCW security were like, ‘Yo, we got to go. We have to go out the front. Run out the front.’ They brought me out, and fans were still chasing me out through the Showboat Casino. It was wild." added Cardona
It's safe to say this was the experience of a lifetime for Matt Cardona. Huge props must go to Matt Cardona, and Nick Gage, for putting their bodies through the pain they did to entertain all the viewers.
