Matt Riddle Explains Why He Hasn’t Been Back With NJPW, Reveals He Was Supposed To Be In 2024 New Japan Cup

Riddle details why he has not been back with New Japan.

At the start of 2024, Matt Riddle ventured into New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In his second match, he defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the new NJPW World Television Champion.

Riddle’s reign lasted just over a month before dropping the belt to Zack Sabre Jr. at NJPW Windy City Riot. That was in April 2024, and he has not wrestled for New Japan since. Riddle explained why on TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast.

He mentioned that he has no ill will towards NJPW and revealed that they wanted him in the 2024 New Japan Cup tournament. Riddle turned it down because, during what would have been week two of the tour, he had a match scheduled against Rob Van Dam in the USA. He said he was paid $10,000 for that bout, and New Japan never paid him that much.

“I hate to say this and people aren’t gonna like this. You know why I don’t wrestle in Japan? Because the economy is trash. You know how much I get paid here in America? About 10 times what they wanna pay me everywhere else… New Japan, I love ‘em, I love their product, they have great talent, a great locker room. But, I got a feeling and you can see, same thing happened with Dolph (Nic Nemeth), they threw titles on us right away, and then they were kind of like, ‘Oh, can you work for this much?’ And I was like, ‘No. I can’t work for this much…’ And then I was like, ‘You know what? Can we agree on this?’ And they were like, ‘Eh,’ and it was literally $1,000 plus what I get paid for a match. But for four matches a week. But, I guess they’ll take care of it, this and that. I have no ill will towards New Japan. It’s the economy, I get it, and to be fair dude, when I’m in WWE and I’m making like $20,000 a week, and I’m a top guy and you get fired, trust me, Dolph was getting the pay the same as me. So was (Mustafa) Ali. So was everybody. But then I know they’ve all taken hits, and honestly dude, I got five kids, and honestly, one of the last times I worked for New Japan, I went over there and won the title off (Hiroshi) Tanahashi and then they wanted me to come for the New Japan Cup and I’m more than happy to go for the New Japan Cup. But, the second weekend, I would have went to Japan… but I was like, ‘Hey, I wanna fly back, because I’m wrestling Rob Van Dam,’ and let’s be real, if me, this guy, the King of Bros, basically Mr. 4/20 of the future, gets a match with RVD, I can’t pass it up. Plus, they paid me 10 grand for one day’s work. I can tell you this, New Japan never paid me that much. Not even close… Look, New Japan, there’s the rub. You get the rub. But at the same time, there’s only so much rub, you know what I’m saying? So I’m like, you have to make an executive decision sometimes and that’s what I did, and I like I said, I have no ill will towards other companies in the U.K. or towards New Japan or any other Japanese companies.”

Riddle wrestled in four matches during his 2024 New Japan stint and finished with a 2-2 record.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.