Matt Cardona wins The Wrestling Showcase
WWE ALUMNUS BETS ON SELF, WINS KING OF THE RING-STYLE TOURNAMENT
By Mike Pankow
Sept. 10, 2022
Matt Cardona spent over a decade in the world’s largest wrestling company, but some of the best moments of his career have occurred following his departure from WWE in spring 2020.
Cardona, fka Zack Ryder in WWE, added another notch to his list of accomplishments, winning the eight-man King of the Ring-style tournament as part of The Wrestling Showcase at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg Chicago on Saturday, Sept. 3.
Matt Cardona, center, celebrates his championship victory in the main event of The Wrestling Showcase along with his wife, Chelsea Green, and friend Brian Myers on Saturday, Sept. 3 in Schaumburg. (Photo by Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
“It was the best thing that ever happened,” Cardona said about being released from WWE. “I knew my contract was about to be up, but the decision was made for me. I’m so fortunate for my time in WWE, but I knew this was the best thing for me. Instead of sitting on my ass, I didn’t care about proving anyone wrong, I wanted to prove myself and my fans right. For the past two years I know I’ve done exactly that.”
The Wrestling Showcase was the brainchild of Josh Shernoff, a host and producer for FITE, and his brother Fred. They brought in talents from IMPACT Wrestling, Major League Wrestling, the NWA and Ohio Valley Wrestling for show filled with all stars. It brought another quality wrestling option in a busy weekend in the Chicago area, which included AEW All Out, Conrad Thompson’s “Top Guy Weekend,” GCW’s Second City Summit, AAW Pro, Freelance Wrestling and Black Wrestlers Matter among the shows.
“It could not have come off any better,” Josh Shernoff said during the post-show press conference. “The crowd was incredible. The matches … everyone put on an awesome show. We had an incredible team.”
Then Fred Shernoff chimed in: “From the performers on down, we were just really lucky to be surrounded by some of the best in the business at everything they do.”
Cardona, recently cleared from a bicep injury, won the tournament with entertaining doses of controversy and quirkiness. For weeks, the tournament bracket showed Cardona or his longtime buddy, Brian Myers, as an either/or proposition as Cardona was awaiting medical clearance to return to compete.
Cardona ended winning the tournament in the final round, which turned out to a triple-threat match due to convoluted circumstances. Cardona outlasted “Samoan Werewolf” Jacob Fatu and IMPACT Wrestling World Champion Josh Alexander to claim the Wrestling Showcase Championship belt.
“It means so much for me to be the very first Wrestling Showcase Champion,” Cardona said. “In the last year, I’ve won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, IMPACT titles. I got hurt, so I had to relinquish them all. This is my first title since I’ve come back. I’m going to start a new collection of titles. It was a who’s who of pro wrestling in that bracket.”
Alexander was taken out of the equation by his IMPACT rival Moose, by whom he squeezed past in the quarterfinals. Alexander hit the C4 piledriver on Cardona and got a 2-count before Moose pulled Alexander out of the ring and took him out.
That left Fatu and Cardona standing and Fatu was able to deliver one of his aerial splashes from the top rope when Cardona’s wife, Chelsea Green ran out and laid on top of Cardona to prevent Fatu from crashing down on him.
With veteran official Mike Chioda distracted by the chaos, Fatu lifted Green on his shoulders and looked to deliver a Samoan Drop before Myers ran down in an attempt to make the save. Fatu put Green down, but Green gave Fatu a low blow from behind, Myers dropped Fatu with a belt shot, and Cardona was able to get a 3-count on Fatu to win the match. Cardona celebrated with Green and Myers as they walked away.
Cardona’s path through the tournament was a roller coaster. Myers told Windy City Slam during a pre-show meet and greet that Cardona was cleared to compete, so Cardona faced off against WWE Legend Tatanka in a quarterfinal match.
WWE Legend Tatanka, left, and Matt Cardona tussle in the quarterfinals of The Wrestling Showcase tournament. (Photo: Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
Tatanka, who made his WWE debut in 1992, who has appeared to have lost a step or two, was still on the verge of knocking off Cardona in what would’ve been a tremendous upset. It took a rollup and Cardona holding the trunks to hold down the 250-pound Tatanka for the pin.
Following the match, Tatanka angered by Cardona’s tactics, picked up the Long Island native, and gave him the End of the Trail. Cardona winced and screamed in pain as it appeared that he may have re-injured his bicep. It was feared that he may have needed to abdicate his position in the semifinals.
Cardona was on a collision course with Fatu in the semifinal, but Cardona came out in a sling and said he felt like he was injured again, and Myers came out as a substitute as it appeared that Cardona was done for the night. Cardona’s right-hand man, Myers, the IMPACT Wrestling Digital Media Champion, couldn’t get the job done as Fatu got the pin after a moonsault, advancing to the final where he thought he was facing Alexander, who defeated Moose and Rich Swann en route to the finale.
However, when it was time for the final, Cardona said he talked to his attorney “Smart” Mark Sterling and added doctors told him that he didn’t reinjure himself, so Wrestling Showcase host Karen Jarrett, who apparently had power for the day, inserted Cardona into the championship match, making it a triple-threat match with Alexander and Fatu.
“I had an injury scare,” Cardona said. “Luckily, Josh [Shernoff] got some great doctors. It was a false alarm, a misdiagnosis. By the time the finals came, I realized I was not injured again.”
In other tournament matches, Swann advanced past the first round with a victory over Johnny Showcase (aka John Morrison) a fun and entertaining affair. Morrison even faced off with Swann in an Old West-style draw with drip sticks, bringing along a gimmick that he used during his final months in WWE before his release.
Fatu defeated IMPACT Wrestling star and former NXT and WWE wrestler Steve Maclin in a hard-hitting contest in another quarterfinal.
In the featured women’s attraction, Taya Valkyrie retained her MLW World Featherweight Championship by defeating Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo of IMPACT Wrestling’s VXT Tag Team in a triple-threat match.
After some back-and-forth action and even the members of VXT trying to pin each other, Green initially won the title by pinning Valkyrie after some chicanery by VXT. Purrazzo kicked referee Brian Hebner out the ring and Purrazzo and Green each grabbed one of Valkyrie title belts and nailed her, allowing Green hit the unprettier and Hebner recovered enough to make the 3-count.
MLW World Featherweight Champion and AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Taya Valkyrie defeated Deonna Purrazzo and Chelsea Green in a triple-threat match. (Photo by Mike Pankow/Windy City Slam)
Jarrett then came out, made Green relinquish the belt, and restarted the match. Both members of VXT kicked Hebner again and knocked him out of commission. Substitute official Dave Miller came in and Valkyrie quickly disposed of Purrazzo, then defeated Green with a leverage pin.
“I’ve had a lot of moments of reflection over the past year,” said Valkyrie, who also holds the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship and the XPW Women’s Championship after being released from NXT. “I really had to dig deep and remember who Taya is, what Wera Loca means and the legacy and the story that I’ve created for myself. That’s what I did.”
Valkyrie said her match illustrated the quality of what women’s wrestling currently has to offer.
“I think you’re seeing that now,” she said. “We have the hype, the work ethic, the look – all of the stuff to goes into being a professional wrestler, a superstar, or whatever you want to call us.”
Ohio Valley Wrestling also had a showcase match on the card and Milwaukee-area rising star “Fanny Pack Kid” Kal Herro, son of legendary Milwaukee wrestling promoter and personality Dave Herro, defeated “Certified” Luke Kurtis with the Fanny Pack Knee.
There was a pair of pre-show matches shown on social media, including former WCW and WWE Superstar Ernest “The Cat” Miller (accompanied by Sonny Onoo) defeating Dave Segan and NWA National Champion Cyon, whose body type resembles a well-known local independent star, retaining by pinning Oak Lawn-native Joe Alonzo after a Death Valley Driver.
The Shernoffs said that the event will return in 2023 and that Cardona will be carrying the Wrestling Showcase Championship everywhere he goes for the next year, including an upcoming tour to the United Kingdom.
“This was a success by every metric,” Josh Shernoff said. “We had this idea and an incredible team to be able to implement this idea.
“We couldn’t be happier to have Matt represent this brand that we created.”
For a photo gallery of 150 photos from the event: https://bit.ly/3Bx7Qub.
Listen to Ep. 135 of Windy City Slam Podcast, with special guest Bill Schelli and an audio recap of The Wrestling Showcase: https://bit.ly/3DhiEhl.
Catch Windy City Slam editor Mike Pankow talking local and national pro wrestling every week with Chicago-area wrestling guests on Windy City Slam Podcast, part of the Broadcast Basement On-Demand Radio Network. Episodes drop early Tuesday morning wherever you download podcasts or at https://windycityslam.podbean.com/.
