KENTA to challenge Matt Riddle for MLW World title
The MLW World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line when Matt Riddle and KENTA face each other for the first time ever.
Riddle will defend his MLW World title belt against KENTA at Summer of the Beasts 2025 in New York City on Thursday, June 26. The show is taking place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens and will air live for free on MLW’s YouTube channel. This is the first match that’s been confirmed.
At MLW SuperFight earlier this year, KENTA defeated Kevin Knight and then declared that he was coming after the MLW World Championship. MLW then uploaded a promo from KENTA this week challenging Riddle for Summer of the Beasts.
Riddle has been champion since January, making three successful title defenses during his reign.
Both Riddle and KENTA are former WWE wrestlers. After several years competing for NJPW, KENTA is now back home in Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he originally became a star early in his career. He wrestles occasionally in the United States for MLW and on the indies.
Since MLW returned as a promotion in 2017, there have been eight wrestlers to hold the World title: Swerve Strickland, Low Ki, Tom Lawlor, Jacob Fatu, Alex Hammerstone, Alex Kane, Satoshi Kojima, and Riddle.
The only other announcement that’s been made for Summer of the Beasts so far is that Tokyo Joshi-Pro wrestler Yuki Kamifuku will make her MLW debut. Her opponent has not been named yet.
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.