Matt Riddle Says TNA Still Owes Him Money, Bully Ray “Floored” By Boos For Hulk Hogan, NJPW Title Retired

Former WWE Superstar Matt Riddle appeared at the 2024 TNA Turning Point pay-per-view event in late November to fill in for Trey Miguel in a six-man tag team match, and he recently spoke with “SHAK Wrestling” to discuss his appearance and still being owed money by TNA.

You can check out some highlights from the interview below:

On how the appearance came about: “There was no call made. I was at WrestleCade, signing autographs, doing pretty well and making pretty good money, a lot of people lined up to take a picture with the bro. Tommy Dreamer came up and Ariel [Shnerer]. They came up to me and said Trey got into, not a horrible car accident, but not a great car accident, and he probably wasn’t going to make it to the show. Because of my past with KUSHIDA in NXT and my past with Zachary Wentz in NXT, I was the shaman, the shaman that took the place of Jeff Hardy, he was the original shaman. He left and I replaced him.

“They asked if I would be willing to do it. I didn’t have to, I’m not under contract with them or anything like that. I saw a company that was kind of in need and I saw one of my friends, Zachary Wentz, was definitely in need, his boy was out. It just made sense. I’ve teamed up with them and teamed up with Jeff before in the past, and I’ve never wrestled the Hardy Boys. I’ve wrestled Jeff by himself. For me, I had never done TNA, wanted to do that. Can’t really pass up an opportunity to wrestle the Hardy Boys. If somebody is hurt or in need and something is not going to work right with the show, I’m more than happy to hop in. Plus, I got an extra payday, which didn’t hurt the weekend. Still waiting on that. They have a three-week thing or two-week thing, I don’t know. I kind of like my money up front. They did great. It was a random thing.”

On if he has any other TNA appearances coming: “I don’t have any plans with them in the future. They have spoken to me. They speak highly of me and to me. They’re very nice to me. I don’t think it’s impossible, but right now, my home is MLW. Luckily, I work for a company like MLW that wasn’t going to crucify me for helping. It wasn’t just me doing the show or trying to get cash, it was me trying to help out my friends. I’m glad MLW and all the people there supported me with the decision.”

During a recent appearance on the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray revealed that he was “floored” when Hulk Hogan was booed out of the building on Monday’s episode of WWE RAW. He said,

”I am floored that Hulk Hogan got booed out of the building. I kind of get it but I’m absolutely floored by it.”

“Busted Open Radio” co-host Dave LaGreca added, “There’s been so much damage done to his reputation over the last 10 years and a lot of it is self-inflicted and it came back to bite him in the ass last night.”

And finally, New Japan Pro Wrestling has officially retired the KOPW Championship.

NJPW sent out a press release on Thursday to announce that the KOPW Championship would be retired after Great-O-Khan expressed his desire to do so before Wrestle Kingdom 19.

You can check out the official announcement below:

“IWGP Committee formally retires KOPW title
After the request of KOPW 2024 Champion Great-O-Khan on December 22 2024, the IWGP Committee has hereby formally retired the KOPW Championship.

The KOPW title was created in July 2020 by Kazuchika Okada. With fan votes determining rules, over 50 matches were contested for the KOPW Championships over its lifespan.

On behalf of the IWGP Committee, NJPW thanks fans for their support of the KOPW title, and for their votes and interaction over the years.”