Matt Riddle Pays Back Deposit To Global Wrestling Kingdom After No-Showing Charity Event

Matt Riddle has paid back his deposit to Global Wrestling Kingdom after he no-showed a charity wrestling event on Sunday, August 31 in Barnsley, England.

Riddle had been advertised in the headline match of GWK's inaugural event since the show was announced in May 2025, but the former WWE United States Champion was nowhere to be seen when the show began, with Grado travelling five hours to replace Riddle for his scheduled match against Simon Miller. It was announced in mid-July that all profits from the GWK show would be donated to the charities Help 4 Homeless Veterans and Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide.

Cultaholic exclusively reported that Riddle was booked for the Global Wrestling Kingdom event through his manager several months ago, but the current MLW World Heavyweight Champion recently expressed concerns about his flight and being stuck in a hotel room in Barnsley for two days.

Riddle didn't cancel his booking, but he never travelled to the United Kingdom and was instead backstage at Real American Freestyle on Saturday, August 30, before he wrestled for Boca Raton Championship Wrestling on Sunday, when he was advertised to be in the UK. As of the time of publication of the report, Riddle had not paid back his deposit.

Riddle gave his side of the situation on Wednesday, claiming that he would be doing nothing for two days in a hotel room as the promotion had failed to book him for other matches and appearances as they had promised, and that he was booked to fly from Miami to London in a middle seat with no meal or checked-in luggage. He also claimed the show being a charity event was a last-second change, which wasn't the case.

"I'm gonna make this quick. GWK, the reason I didn't go is because you booked me a flight for Thursday for a show that was happening Sunday. And you said you were booking me meet-and-greets, other matches, and appearances. You did none of that. I had nothing scheduled and I was going to sit in a hotel room for two days in London. I told you multiple times I couldn't do that or wouldn't do that," Riddle said on X/Twitter.

"And I got work for Friday and Saturday. And Thursday, I worked Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And I told you I would fly to London Saturday evening. You said, 'You pay for it.' I go, 'No, you pay for it. Take it out of my pay, whatever.' You guys refused, so I flew to Miami and wrestled there. I never said I wouldn't pay you guys back, that's a lie. Also, this show wasn't a charity event. That's a lie, that was a last-second change. You also booked me the worst flight in history, bro. Middle seat, no meal, no checked bag. GWK, this is probably your last run."

Riddle added in a second X/Twitter video 30 minutes later: "You know, I can explain everything in great detail. I'm not lying, but I really don't give a f*ck anymore. Most of you motherf*ckers are dumb f*cking c*nts. Just like when you believe that MeToo bullsh*t, all the other f*cking garbage. You guys are all f*cking dumb and it's f*cking insane. It's f*cking insane. F*cking believe these f*cking creeps. Whatever, dog. 

"At the end of the day, I'm gonna keep getting booked, I'm probably gonna start fighting again. I'm probably gonna do a lot of other sh*t. F*cking crushing it on OnlyFans because I’ve got a big f*cking you know what, and I'm nice as f*ck, dude. Everybody, if you don’t like me, unfollow. Go f*ck yourselves. I don’t give a f*ck because at the end of the day, the cream f*cking rises to the top and I’m really, really f*cking tired of trying to be nice to everybody because I hate to break it to you, most of you guys are f*cking morons. Peace."

GWK issued their own statement on Thursday and announced Riddle had now paid back his deposit. They also disputed Riddle's account of events, writing:

"**update** Mr Riddle has now paid back his deposit and has given us his word that he will reimburse his expenses too.

"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!"