Matt Riddle returns deposit amid charity event no-show controversy
After controversy erupted this week with Matt Riddle being accused of no-showing a charity event, the situation is closer to being resolved.
Riddle was scheduled to travel to the United Kingdom to face Simon Miller at a show for Global Wrestling Kingdom on Sunday. But Riddle did not appear at the show and was replaced by Grado instead. It was reported that Riddle no-showed the event — which was a charity show to benefit homeless veterans and survivors of bereavement by suicide — and had not returned his deposit.
The deposit has now been returned, with Global Wrestling Kingdom saying that Riddle has given them his word that he will reimburse his expenses as well.
“Mr Riddle has now paid back his deposit and has given us his word that he will reimburse his expenses too,” the promotion wrote.
In the original report about Riddle no-showing the event, it was said that Riddle expressed concerns over the quality of his flight and that he would have to spend two days in a hotel room in the U.K. with nothing to do.
Riddle addressed the situation in a video on Wednesday and claimed that the show was not originally a charity event until that aspect was added at the last minute. Riddle also said the promotion was supposed to line up other appearances for him leading into the show, which did not end up happening. Riddle said he never told Global Wrestling Kingdom that he would not pay them back for missing the event.
Global Wrestling Kingdom says it was announced in July that the show would be for charity.
Over the weekend, Riddle was backstage at Real American Freestyle’s event on Saturday and then competed for an indie in Florida on Sunday.
Global Wrestling Kingdom shared the following statement giving their side of the situation:
We have not made any public statement on this unfortunate situation, but we think it’s important to set the record clear on Mr Riddle’s claims.
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.
After months of chasing his manager for a promised promo hyping up the event, he eventually sent us one the Wednesday prior to the show.
We wished him a safe flight on Thursday but got not response. No issue of the flight was raised.
We informed him the name of his driver on Friday morning but got no response.
Again, no issue was raised regarding his flight, nor did he let us know that he was planning on not showing up.
After his driver waited several hours at the airport for him, we asked him where he was but didn’t get a reply back until Friday evening. Only then did he tell us he was unhappy with his flight and decided to take other bookings instead.
We implored him to try and get a flight over as fans had paid to see him. He was reminded again, that this was a charity event (for ‘Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide’ and ‘help 4 homeless veterans’) which was announced on our social media pages back in July.
We received no response from Mr Riddle whatsoever until yesterday afternoon – 3 days after the event.
In his many videos, he’s stated that his flights didn’t include meals. Screenshots clearly show that 2 meals were included in his flight and these screenshots were sent to him on Friday night. No seats were allocated because this is done once you check in online which Mr Riddle hadn’t done. Any issues with luggage could have been quickly sorted out by a quick message or phone call.
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!
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.