Matt Riddle has returned a deposit to Global Kingdom Wrestling (GWK) after missing the promotion’s event this past weekend.
Riddle had been scheduled for a match with Simon Miller in Barnsley, England, and was provided with a deposit in advance, but didn’t appear, and was replaced by Grado.
Cultaholic was the first to report that Riddle missed the date and hadn’t returned the money as of Wednesday.
After the story broke, Riddle addressed the issue on Wednesday, stating that GWK had booked his flight on a Thursday for a show on Sunday while failing to book him on additional events and meet-and-greet sessions they had negotiated. Riddle refused to fly over and spend two days in a hotel when he could be working elsewhere and would fly in on Saturday night, but neither side agreed to pay for the change, so Riddle opted to work in Miami.
It was also reported to be an event raising money for charity, which Riddle claimed was a last-minute addition to this show. However, it was noted that a video was posted four weeks ago where figurehead Al Snow announced that profits from the show would go toward the Help 4 Homeless Veterans and Survivor of Bereavement by Suicide foundations.
GWK has issued a statement confirming that Riddle has returned the deposit and has “given his word that he will reimburse his expenses too.” The promotion stated that his flights were booked and approved by Riddle’s manager in April, and no issue was brought up.
More from GWK:
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!”
Riddle wrestled for Boca Raton Championship Wrestling this past Sunday, teaming with Stallion Rogers against Lakay and Lincoln.
