Summary
- GWK says Matt Riddle repaid his deposit and pledged to reimburse his expenses.
- GWK says his flights were booked and approved and disputes Riddle’s claims about bookings and charity.
- Grado replaced Riddle, crowd loved it; Riddle’s past issues include WWE release and an airport incident.
Global Wrestling Kingdom issued a statement Thursday regarding the Matt Riddle controversy. As reported, the former WWE Superstar no-showed the promotion’s A New Kingdom Rises event in Barnsley, England. The event raised money for “survivors of bereavement by suicide” and “help for homeless veterans.” At the time, it was reported that Riddle failed to return the deposit, but now the promotion has shared a positive update on the matter.
Riddle was supposed to face popular YouTuber Simon Miller, but failed to travel to the UK. Former TNA star and popular British wrestler Grado ended up taking his spot. In Thursday’s statement, which was published on Facebook, GWK revealed that Riddle paid back his deposit. They wrote:
“Mr Riddle has now paid back his deposit and has given us his word that he will reimburse his expenses too.”
So that’s one good thing to come out of this controversy.
GWK Gives Their Side Of The Story
Not only did GWK share that Riddle paid them back, but replied to his recent claims. As noted, Riddle claimed that the promoter lied about it being a charity event, lied about his flight booking, and said they were going to book him for other things before the charity event, but never did. They said:
“His flights were booked and approved by his manager back in April. No issue was raised at the time. We originally planned to coincidence his appearance with some seminars but his manager asked if we could share his weekend with a promoter in Paris who wanted to book him on the Saturday which we agreed to. Unfortunately, they decided that they couldn’t work with him. We did make efforts to see if we could help get him booked elsewhere but to no avail. We simply can’t force promotions or gyms to work with him if they don’t wish to.”
The promotion also claims that they received no response from Riddle until three days after the event. GWK ended their statement by praising Grado and the fan reaction to his coming out to the ring. GWK Added:
“It is incredibly disappointing that this happened, but we would like to focus on the positive and heap massive praise on all the talent and fans who showed up on Sunday. All the fans and talent backstage were incredibly positive, and the reaction of the crowd when Grado’s music hit nearly knocked us out of our chairs. Grado truly is… the man!”
This, of course, isn’t the first time that Riddle has been part of a controversy. WWE released him in September 2023 due to personal life issues and multiple failed drug tests. The last straw with the company was the incident at JFK airport, where Riddle was drunk and was denied boarding the plane due to this.
