Matt Cardona addresses his torn tricep: “I’m coming back to be the WWE Champion or I’m gonna die trying”

Let’s go back 2 weeks ago. SmackDown against Gunther.

We had a fight. I got my ass kicked. It was an impromptu match, so I was in street clothes. No pads, specifically no elbow pads. Oh, sh*t.

And I got powerbombed on the announce table, got powerbombed on the apron, twice in the ring. And my elbow was bothering me, but I didn’t really think anything of it. And then even the next week or so in the gym, it was bothering me, but I thought, okay, I’m just banged up, no big deal.

And then last Friday, I was wrestling Kit Wilson, and in the first minute or so, I did a second rope dropkick, landed on the front of my body, land on my elbow like I do every match, almost every match. And I felt a pop.

And I thought, there’s no way I hurt my elbow on a dropkick, right? So I clothesline him over the top rope and I’m like, that felt weird too. And then I did my baseball slide dropkick where I hold on to the second rope and kick through when he’s on the outside and holding on to the ropes. I had no strength in my right arm. I said, okay, this tricep is torn.

So I rolled him in, finished the match, I beat him. And then the next day I got an MRI, and sure enough, yes, torn right off the bone, right off the elbow.

Now, is the Gunther thing connected? I don’t know.

Maybe I’m just trying to rationalize in my head. Doesn’t matter because my tricep’s torn.

So got the surgery Tuesday. And there is no good time to get injured. When I got injured on the indies, I was the indie god, right? I had all these titles. I was killing it. Getting hurt was a momentum killer, a buzz killer. And, you know, I was trying so hard to get back to WWE. So that sucked when I got hurt then.

But now I think it sucks even more because let’s be honest, these past 7 months I haven’t been doing much, right? And I’ve been optimistic that something is gonna change. And it did a couple weeks ago with the Gunther opportunity. I knew returning to WWE would be an uphill battle and I was ready for it.

Always ready, right?

On the indies, I was a big fish in a small pond. In WWE, you’re swimming with the sharks, and I absolutely love it. The amount of top guys, right? I mean, I’m gonna forget people.

Punk, Cody, Seth, Roman, right? KO. The list goes on and on, right? And then you have all the young up-and-comers, Oba, Trick, Jevon, Bron Breakker, then everyone in between is so talented, right?

There’s no dead weight on the roster. So I knew it would be an uphill battle.

It just sucks getting hurt now when I’m still like figuring out who Matt Cardona is in WWE. And let’s be honest, I’m not getting any younger, right? I’m 41, which I don’t think is that old. I feel like I’m in the best shape of my career besides this injury. The 2 world champions are, are my age or older.

But I’m closer to the end than I am to the beginning. So 5 months, 6 months, 3 months off at this point in my career, that’s a long f*cking time.

So it is certainly not a good time to get injured. I don’t want to sit home. I don’t want to sit and collect a check. I don’t want to have a vacation. I want to be in the ring. I want to be wrestling.

I worked so damn hard to get back to WWE and not just to be a WWE Superstar. I, you know, been there, done that for 14 years. I was already a WWE Superstar. I came back to win the WWE Championship and I might sound crazy to you. Maybe I’m delusional, but that’s just how I’m wired. I came back to be the WWE Champion.

And things have not gone my way. And that’s fine. And this injury sucks. It is what it is. It’s a setback.

And I will figure out how to make the best of this. I will figure out how to turn a negative into a positive. I’ve said it before, there is nobody in the history of this business, in my opinion, there’s nobody in the history of this business who’s been counted out more times by the office, the fans, even myself, and come back than me.

I will not die. I am a cockroach, whatever you want to say. But I love this stuff too damn much to let this injury, you know, it’s not gonna stop me. It’s a setback. It derailed this.

But yeah, I worked too damn hard to come back to have this injury ruin it. So I’ll be back faster than the surgeon said. And I’m coming back to be the WWE Champion or I’m gonna die trying.”