Matt Cardona Recalls Meeting Test During ECW December To Dismember 2006: ‘He Gave Me The No-Look Handshake And Broke My Heart’

Matt Cardona recalls meeting Test during ECW December to Dismember 2006.

Test was signed to World Wrestling Entertainment from 1998 to 2004. He left the company briefly before returning in 2006 on ECW.

One of the events Test worked at that time was the December to Dismember pay-per-view, where he faced Bobby Lashley, Big Show, CM Punk, Rob Van Dam, and Hardcore Holly in an Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Title.

Speaking with Jeremy Jacobowitz recently, Cardona shared a story about meeting Test during this show.

“Test was one of my favorites. I’ll never forget like Summer ‘99. He was red hot. He was my pick to win the Royal Rumble 2000 here in New York City. He did not win. 

I will say this, though. I get called up to the main roster. Actually, it’s before I get called up. I’m in developmental. We go to—Cause our developmental system at the time, Deep South Wrestling, was in McDonough, Georgia. There was a famous pay-per-view, December to Dismember, which was one of the worst pay-per-views of all time. But they sent some of us there. Test was there. I was so excited to meet Test. He gave me the no-look handshake and broke my heart. Everyone knows, if you’re a wrestler, you know the no-look handshake. Someone’s walking out the hallway. You’re so excited to talk to them, and they give you one of these.”

Cardona is sidelined due to a torn triceps injury, which he suffered in August 2026.

Elsewhere in the interview, he said that he’d like to make his return at next year’s Royal Rumble. Fans can read his full comments here.

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