Matt Riddle Explains His Reasons for His Abrupt Departure from NJPW in 2024 & Lack of Return

Matt Riddle last worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling in April of 2024. Riddle’s tenure with NJPW was a very short one lasting from January to April of that year and was notable for his odd antics after his match with Zack Sabre Jr. for the NJPW World Television Championship at NJPW’s Windy City Riot 2024 event.

A recent episode of TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast featured Riddle as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Riddle’s thoughts about his reasons for his lack of a return to NJPW due to pay-related issues and him not wanting to commit to working their New Japan Cup tournament in 2024 due to him having a scheduled booking in the United States that paid better during it.

“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.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com