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Matt Cardona is once again the WSW World Heavyweight Champion. Published in September, “UltiBro Dragon: Can Matt Cardona Break the All-Time Record of Ultimo Dragon?” covered Cardona’s Premier Men’s World Championship victory, which brought him to nine championships, just one title shy of meeting the world record for simultaneous title reigns set by Ultimo Dragon in 1996.
Cardona succeeded in keeping his count at nine by defending his HOG World Heavyweight Championship against Homicide in Queens, NY and his DDT Universal Championship against Maki Ito in Tokyo, Japan, before heading to Australia for the World Series Wrestling Full Throttle tour.
The tour opened on October 6th in Melbourne, but this was a bad night broski. Not only was his “heater” Steph De Lander very unfortunately injured (forcing her to relinquish the WSW Women’s Championship) but he was bested for his World Series Wrestling title by Shawn Spears as well.
“The Indy God” would have little luck over the next few nights, losing his subsequent matches in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane, while AEW’s “chairman” made successful defences against Frankie Kazarian and Eric Young, as well as former champions Robbie Eagles and Cardona himself.
However, the WSW World Heavyweight Championship has a long and eclectic history and a champion should never get too comfortable with the belt around his waist. Established in 2005, the title has been held by Rhino, Jeff Jarrett, Ricochet, Brian Cage, Billy Kidman and Bryan Danielson, amongst others. Though these champions have succeeded in fending off challengers like Nigel McGuinness, Christopher Daniels, Bandido, Joey Janela, Zack Sabre Jr. and Penta el 0M, it’s not uncommon for the title to change hands multiple times on a single tour.
On October 13th, the former Tye Dillinger saw his reign cut short at just seven days when Cardona reversed his bad fortune in a “Sydney Street Fight” to become a two-time champion (a record he now shares with Austin Aries and Johnny Impact/Downunder).
This WSW victory brings Cardona’s overall title count back up to nine championships with the Internet Championship, SCX Championship, Xcite International Championship, Wrestling Showcase Championship and Jericho Cruise Oceanic Championship, as well as the aforementioned DDT Pro Wrestling, Premier Streaming Network and House of Glory Wrestling titles.
This count of nine once again puts him a three-count away from meeting the all-time title record set by Ultimo Dragon on December 28th, 1996. It was at WCW Starrcade that the J-Crown Champion defeated Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship in a title-for-title clash. It would have seemed unthinkable for Zack Ryder to threaten to set new records for title success in professional wrestling but as the “Death Match King” often likes to remind us: “Zack Ryder is fucking dead.”
Of course, WSW is not Cardona’s first experience in Australia. He first wrestled there as Brett Major in 2007 when he and Brian Major (Curt Hawkins/Brian Myers) challenged Deuce & Domino for the WWE Tag Team Championships in Perth. In the years that followed, he also fought Curtis Axel for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and Dean Ambrose for the WWE United States Championship.
He even made the very first defence of the Internet Championship against Primo in Melbourne (an article on the weird and wonderful history of this title is coming soon to Ecstasy of Gold Wrestling) and competed in the 2011 Brisbane Cup, which was won by CM Punk (see “The Forgotten History of the WWE Brisbane Cup” for more details on this obscure WWE trophy, which was held by John Cena, Jeff Hardy, Mark Henry and The Big Show)
You can watch all the WSW Full Throttle Tour events via FITE.
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Links:
Matt Cardona Online: MattCardona.com / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / Pro Wrestling Tees
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