Matt Cardona has ended Rhino's 21-year reign as ECW Television Champion ... kinda?
It all went down at GCW's 'Most Notorious event in Detroit, Michigan on Friday, January 14. In the fourth match of the show, deathmatch legend Matt Cardona went one-on-one with ECW legend Rhino for the ECW TV title that Rhino won from Kid Kash in *checks notes* the year 2000.
Cardona and Rhino engaged in a tough battle that saw them brawl through the crowd. At one point, Rhino fulfilled a pre-match promise and gored Cardona's wife Chelsea Green through a door -- but his act would ultimately cost "The Man Beast" the match when Cardona took advantage of the distraction and hit Rhino with a low blow. Cardona then hit his opponent in the head with a replica ECW TV title belt and covered the veteran for the 1-2-3.
After the bell, Cardona forced ECW ring announcer Emil Jay to announce that Cardona was the new ECW Television Champion.
The ECW Television Championship was introduced in 1993 and was held by legends including Jimmy Snuka, Terry Funk, Eddie Guerrero, and Dean Malenko to name a few. Rhino held the title in 2001 when ECW ceased operations. The title was not reactivated when WWE revived the ECW brand in 2006, and Rhino is officially recognized as the final ECW TV Champion.
It seems unlikely that Cardona will be officially recognized as part of the ECW TV title's lineage since the responsibility to do so presumably lies with WWE ... but you never know.
Cardona has been having an absolute blast since parting ways with WWE. As well featuring heavily on Impact Wrestling's product alongside his real-life partner Chelsea Green, the artist formerly known as Zack Ryder has been tearing it up on the indies and has taken part in some brutal, bloody matches, including one with deathmatch legend Nick Gage.