Matt Riddle explains why his run with New Japan Pro-Wrestling ended.
After his WWE release in September 2023, Riddle appeared in a taped video at NJPW New Year Dash!! He then made his debut at NJPW Battle in the Valley. Riddle went on to win the NJPW World Television Championship. He dropped the title at NJPW Windy City Riot in April, and he hasn’t wrestled for the company since.
Speaking with Shakiel Mahjouri for SHAK Wrestling, Matt Riddle was asked to comment on the end of his time in NJPW.
“New Japan was great. Honestly, I was supposed to go there and do a tour when I first started working with them, but I had a scheduling conflict,” Riddle said. “I had a match with RVD actually that I had scheduled. Me being me, there was no way I could miss a match with RVD. So I told New Japan I could come in the first week of the tour, but then I’d have to leave to leave the second weekend, I’d be back before the weekend was over.
“They said that wasn’t gonna work, and I was like, okay. And then I worked for them in Chicago, I dropped the Zack Sabre Jr. Then they wanted me to wrestle again, I think they had one in San Jose, in California. When they did the next one for California, I had a booking with MLW, and like I said, MLW kind of comes first. They’ve been taking care of me, I’ve worked for them in the past. Ever since I was like, ‘Hey, I have a booking that day with MLW,’ they have not reached out since. But I don’t think it’s anything personal.”
Matt Riddle: I’m Very Busy
Riddle went on to say that he filled his schedule up, and he was already booked when NJPW would reach out to him. He reiterated that he was busy.
“They kind of, I really fill up my schedule early,” Matt Riddle said. “I wrestle a lot, I wrestle two or three times a weekend usually, and their schedule, they didn’t pencil me in. So they’d a lot of times call me or ask me to do a date, and I was already booked.
“So I think that was it. They have a lot going on, they have a lot of moving pieces, but when you’re dealing with somebody like me or somebody like Mustafa Ali, any guy that’s recently released and can actually go in the ring, we’re in demand. I wrestle all over the world all the time. You might not be seeing me on TV, but I’m still very busy.”
RELATED: Matt Riddle Wins MLW World Heavyweight Title At MLW Kings Of Colosseum
If you use these quotes, please credit the original source and link back to WrestleZone with an h/t for the transcription.
