MAO vs. Matt Cardona For Universal Title To Be Held Under No DQ Rules

MAO to challenge Matt Cardona for the Universal Championship at Ultimate Party in a No DQ match

By: James Carlin

At today’s press conference that saw the signing of the DDT Universal Championship match MAO, who will be challenging for the title, requested that the match be changed to a No Disqualification stipulation. The champion Matt Cardona, who last defended his belt against Maki Itoh in September, accepted the request which means the title match at Ryogoku Sumo Hall will officially be no disqualification – a ruleset right up the alley of the challenger, but does Cardona know what he’s getting himself into?

MAO won the DDT Universal Championship last year at the company’s 25th Anniversary Show in a Hardcore Three-Way match against Jun Kasai and champion Daisuke Sasaki, successfully defending twice before losing it to Masahiro Takanashi three months later. He has also challenged for the DDT Extreme Championship on multiple occasions in the past.

The challenger clearly has the support of the fans on his side whilst Cardona, who currently holds nine different titles at the same time, is not too well liked by DDT’s fanbase. Cardona may hold the physical Internet Title, but his support has been dwindling as of late, and it wouldn’t surprise us if his Internet Explorer hasn’t updated since 2011.

Q&A with MAO, on freedom and life philosophy