Deathmatch to Disneyland: Matt Cardona vows to end Nick Gage and take title to ‘happiest place on earth’

Cardona has a big trip booked the morning after his deathmatch (Pictures: Rex / IMPACT Wrestling / AEW)

Matt Cardona has vowed to beat Nick Gage in their deathmatch and take the GCW Championship to Disneyland.

The IMPACT Wrestling star, who made his name as Zack Ryder in WWE, is stepping into unfamiliar territory on Saturday night as he faces a hardcore legend in his own bloodthirsty environment – but he’s trying not to worry about the industry he could suffer in the bout.

He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘I don’t even wanna think that way. I have a 6 o’clock the next flight the morning to go to California for Disneyland. So that’s my main priority – to take that title to Disneyland.’

It’s a bold claim from someone who’s never had this kind of match before, and he’s stepping in the ring with someone who’s made his name in brutal bouts across the world.

‘In a way, I’m afraid of him. He’s died and come back to life! This guy will bring anything to the table,’ Cardona admitted. ‘But in this particular situation, it’s me who has nothing to lose.

‘If I walk in there and I get my ass kicked and I’m all bloody and I lose – big deal, everybody expects that. But if he loses to me, his schtick is over!’

Matt – who also insisted at another point in our chat that he isn’t scared of the The King of Ultra Violence – admitted he actually does have something to lose though, particularly when it comes to the lasting impact this match could have on him.

‘You just gotta not think about it, I guess,’ he said on the subject of Gage’s infamous pizza cutter. ‘I’m not wearing my traditional wrestling gear for the show.

‘I’ll be wearing jeans, stuff like that, some elbow pads. I’m not going with some swat gear by any means, but I’m gonna try and protect myself for sure. These deathmatch guys, like – look at Nick Gage! He’s an ugly son of a bitch, he has no teeth.

‘I can’t walk out of Homecoming with scars all of my face! I’m a beautiful, handsome man! I have a fiancée, I have a wedding, I can’t look like I just came from a deathmatch! [laughs]’

Cardona is always ready – but he wants to protect his good looks (Photo: IMPACT Wrestling)

When it comes to his fiancée Chelsea Green, Matt noted while she’s being supportive, she’s not going to be in the front row to witness what he hopes will be a triumphant night.

‘I don’t know if she’ll be watching – she’s definitely not coming. I would never bring her to that arena,’ he laughed. ‘[But] it’s been fun. I guess I’m just very confident that I’m gonna walk out of there, not only surviving but as the champion!’

That might be easier said than done, particularly for someone who’s stepping into a hostile environment in Gage’s home turf and in a kind of match Cardona himself doesn’t actually like.

Gage (right) is one of the most intimidating men in wrestling (Photo: AEW)

‘I don’t like deathmatch wrestling, I don’t plan to get into deathmatch wrestling but I respect that part of the business,’ he offered. ‘This has nothing to do with proving a point to people. I have nothing to prove to anybody!

‘This is for me. This is for the buzz. This is for me to expand on my career for me. I don’t care what some GCW fan thinks of me.’

The fans – whom Matt has brilliantly nicknamed the GCW Universe and got exactly the reaction he wanted – haven’t taken too kindly to him, and they were particularly rowdy when he shockingly crashed a GCW show earlier this year and laid out Gage.

Tonight’s atmosphere could conjure up memories of this

‘The part that was nervewracking was that I was wearing this druid mask, I couldn’t really see and there’s glass and light tubes everywhere in the ring,’ he recalled.

‘Then after I DDT’d him, I look down and I’m gushing blood out of my arm because I sliced myself on some light tube or piece of glass. GCW is no joke, and Nick Gage is no joke.’

The idea of him stepping into that world conjures up memories of John Cena battling Rob Van Dam at ECW One Night Stand 2006, and Cardona thinks it will be the perfect storm.

More: US TV news

‘This might be the craziest, rowdiest, loudest crowd at an indy show ever! I’m not exaggerating, I really think that,’ he said. ‘There’s going to be, like you said, that John Cena/RVD One Night Stand feel. I hope someone brings an, “If Cardona wins we riot” sign.

‘I’m looking forward to it, and I know a lot of my fans are gonna be there, so it’s going to be an interesting dynamic with the GCW Universe and my fans.

‘Hopefully it’s going to be a 50/50 crowd, and my fans scared that they’re gonna get cut up or stabbed and that everyone’s really, really loud. It should make for an exciting night!’

*Watch Matt Cardona vs. Nick Gage at GCW Homecoming tonight (July 24) at 1am on Fite TV.

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