Matt Riddle Reportedly Involved in Sexual Misconduct Incident at Indie Event in 2016, Riddle Denies Allegations

David Bixenspan reported that Matt Riddle was involved in an alleged sexual misconduct incident in the indies prior to his signing with WWE.

This incident reportedly took place at an event for PWX in 2016 and revolved around claims made by indie wrestler Thunderkitty on Twitter in 2020. In a long since deleted tweet, Thunderkitty stated “Remember that time one of my friends/well respected veteran lady wrestler told Matt Riddle to stop changing into his ‘gear’ in front of everyone in a WOMEN'[‘]S locker room & leave and he got shitty to the point they were in each other’s faces? I remember.”

Bixenspan reported that the “veteran lady wrestler” in question was Malia Hosaka, who confirmed that it was indeed her when contacted for the story.

Hosaka reportedly stated:

“We were all in there, our show was going on. I didn’t know who he was, but I was sitting with my feet propped up and eyes closed. When I opened them[,] he was on my right stripped down to his underwear and I got mad at the lack of respect from today’s generation. For him to come into the locker room to change while the women had the room[,] and to strip down and change was disrespectful. There was a bathroom down the hall that fans couldn’t get to that he could have used. [In m]y generation[,] the men and women respected each other enough to at least ask if it was ok or to ask for privacy. It pissed me off[,] and then his attitude that he had underwear on and that it wasn’t a big deal pissed me off more[,] so I told him how I felt about the lack of respect.”

Hosaka also reportedly stated that Riddle had called her a “bitch” over the incident and had shown no remorse over his actions that night.

Bixenspan reported that Riddle denied the allegations when he was contacted for his side of the story.

Riddle reportedly stated:

“The PWX thing wasn’t even an incident[,] [T]here was only one locker room (which isn’t uncommon on the indies unfortunately) [and] the promoter told me to change in there[,] so I did. Malia confronted me on my way out, I explained that the promoter told me to go change in there and she talked to the promoter and that was the end of it.”

Bixenspan reported that his sources familiar with the situation stated that Riddle’s claims were not accurate since PWX always had two separate locker rooms available if they booked female talent for their shows. Those same sources reportedly also stated that in situations where this was not possible, PWX officials made sure to inform all of the male talent booked that they would not be allowed to enter the locker room in under any circumstances until after all of the women had cleared out first.

Those spoken to reportedly also stated that there was no reason why Riddle would need to change into his gear while the all-women’s event was ongoing. Bixenspan reported that night’s event was actually a doubleheader booked show with the all-women’s event taking place first. Bixenspan also reported that the all-women’s event would have ended well in time for everyone involved in the second event to get dressed up and prepared for their show.