Category: Indies

Josh Barnett has spoken to CM Punk, Malakai Black about Bloodsport

Josh Barnett also threw out Chad Gable and even Bill Goldberg as possible fits for future Bloodsport cards.

When Shayna Baszler competes in Bloodsport X in Philadelphia during WrestleMania week, it will break a longstanding WWE prohibition against talent working outside the company. But Baszler isn’t the only big name Josh Barnett has spoken to about a potential Bloodsport appearance — in WWE or AEW.

Barnett appeared as a guest this week on Wrestling Junkie’s Under the Ring podcast with Phil Strum and shared some other names that are sure to raise some eyebrows among pro wrestling fans.

“I love giving people opportunity, and that’s a huge reason to do this,” Barnett said. “So if given the chance to bring other guys in, of course. I’ve spoken with Malakai Black now plenty of times about coming in to Bloodsport. I’ve spoken to CM Punk. It would be great to have Chad Gable or Bron Breakker or any number of people with amateur backgrounds.”

Barnett also put over NXT’s Charlie Dempsey as someone who’s caught his eye and would fit the Bloodsport mold.

“Charlie Dempsey, he’s out there showing catch-as-catch-can, and he spent the time abroad training for quite some time. And I’ve actually worked with him over distance for some years prior.

“But honestly, the kid’s been doing all his own work, because he really wants to be the type of wrestler that you think he is. It’s important to him, I can see.”

AEW’s Miro was another name that Barnett threw out as a potential fit. And Bill Goldberg is someone that he said “is like family to me.”

While the sky is pretty much the limit and Baszler certainly seems to have opened a door that was long shut and padlocked, Barnett says in the end, anyone be brings in has to want to be there as much as he’d like having them there.

“Whoever it is, they also have to really see this ring for what it is and what we’ve created and say, ‘That is something I gotta do.'”

Bloodsport X and the rest of the GCW Collective events during WrestleMania week can be seen live on TrillerTV+.

How did Josh Barnett get Shayna Baszler for Bloodsport? ‘Through my relationships with people there’

Another thing that Josh Barnett feels is important is that Bloodsport isn’t out to compete with WWE or anyone else.

Josh Barnett has made enough friendships, training and business contacts within the pro wrestling industry to last several lifetimes. So when he asks about something that’s previously been unthinkable — like getting a current WWE superstar to work on one of his Bloodsport shows — people consider it.

That’s relevant in a big way right now as Barnett revealed that Shayna Baszler, who he trained to make the jump from MMA to pro wrestling, will compete on his upcoming Bloodsport X card in Philadelphia on April 4. It’s a huge deal as WWE has famously prohibited talent from working on outside shows, but as Barnett told Under the Ring host Phil Strum, there was no secret to making it happen other than the connections he’s made over the years.

“I guess the easiest way to describe it is just through my relationships with people there,” Barnett said. “That’s really what it comes down to. With anybody, when speaking with a promotion, you’re always going to want a … If you’re going to do anything outside of it, you want a certain level of trust and consideration given to you, and it’s hard to lend your toys out when there’s so much money put into them and the product itself.

“Of course, we see cross-promotion happening out there in the world of wrestling, but it’s really a big deal when you think about all the different things involved in it and the value of some of the athletes that are going back and forth. But fortunately, through relationships I’ve cultivated over the years, something like having Shayna Baszler at GCW Bloodsport is … it’s a reality now.”

Barnett also added that it helps that he’s not out to compete with any promotions with Bloodsport, but simply give talent another way to shine.

“I try to create this show as a neutral body, as something that stands alone and apart from all the rest of pro wrestling’s politics and ratings wars and so on and so forth. We’re not out there thinking about competing with anyone else but ourselves, and being capable of making the absolute best shows in the spirit of how I am trying to build Bloodsport to be. That’s it.”

Listen to Strum’s full conversation with Barnett above for many more insights from the Warmaster. Tickets for Bloodsport X, including Baszler’s match with Masha Slamovich, are sold out, but the event can be seen live along with the rest of the GCW Collective events during WrestleMania week on TrillerTV+.

Nephews of Cody, Dustin Rhodes preparing for pro wrestling debut

The third generation of the Rhodes family will get its start in the wrestling business this Sunday.

Cody Rhodes might be trying to finish his story at WrestleMania 40 in a few weeks, but two of his younger relatives are just getting ready to begin theirs.

The relatives in question are Wayne and Wyatt Rhodes, nephews to both Cody and his brother, AEW’s Dustin Rhodes. As announced on social media by Dustin Rhodes, these two brothers will team together as The Texas Outlaws for their first pro wrestling match this Sunday, March 24, at the Rhodes Wrestling Academy (RWA) showcase.

The sons of Kristin Runnels Ditto, sister to Dustin and half-sister to Cody, Wayne and Wyatt will use a tag team name that was once used by Dusty Rhodes and Dick Murdoch when they teamed together decades ago.

Best of all, fans who would like to see these third-generation performers take their first steps in the business can do so for free on the RWA YouTube channel. The showcase begins Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT, and The Texas Outlaws will compete in the main event, a 2-out-of-3 falls match with a 30-minute time limit.

Shayna Baszler to compete in Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport X on April 4

Shayna Baszler on the Bloodsport X card could mark a drastic change in WWE policy.

It’s not just WWE that sets up shop in the WrestleMania host city in early April each year. Most of the pro wrestling world also descends upon the same location, taking advantage of the fact that so many fans are in one place. And while WWE usually tends to ignore the indie shows that swirl around Mania week, that’s changing in a big way this year thanks to today’s announcement that Shayna Baszler will compete in Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport X.

Fightful Select (subscription required) first reported Friday afternoon that “multiple WWE talent will be competing at Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport” — a major break in tradition not just for WrestleMania week, but in WWE policy in general. Superstars are rarely if ever permitted to work elsewhere.

Shortly after that report, Barnett himself confirmed that Baszler would be part of the show on April 4.

Baszler is a natural choice for the event. Not only was she trained by Barnett, but her MMA background is tailor made for Bloodsport, which is positioned as a hybrid between MMA and pro wrestling and features hard-hitting but technical matches.

As well, with the Fightful report suggesting more than just Baszler will be involved, it raises the question of whether WWE will allow more talent to compete in other promotions from time to time.

Bloodsport X is also part of the GCW Collective, a group of shows held throughout WrestleMania weekend in Philadelphia that includes Defy, DDT Pro-Wrestling, Progress, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling and other promotions. Tickets for Bloodsport X are sold out, but limited General Admission ticket packages good for admission to all Collective shows are still available at the time of this post.

Mick Foley has the best, most wholesome Taylor Swift story ever

Former WWE star Mick Foley shared his heartwarming reason for why he’s “a Swiftie for life.”

Fans of pro wrestlers always want to believe that their favorites are good people as well as talented performers. That’s true of stars in other fields as well, and the more popular, the higher the hopes that celebrities aren’t jerks — and it’s hard to be any more popular right now than Taylor Swift.

The music superstar has somehow managed to be in the spotlight even more over the past few months thanks to her incredibly successful tour, record-setting Grammys night and relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce. It seems impossible she could keep her head screwed on straight through all of that, right?

Maybe she can. For anecdotal evidence, we turn in an unexpected direction: to the Facebook account of hardcore legend Mick Foley. While Foley says some of his children appreciate Swift’s music more than he does, he’s nevertheless “a Swiftie for life” for the kindness he saw from her in 2007, when Jeff Jarrett was dealing with his first wife’s ultimately unsuccessful battle against cancer.

Foley recalled that someone told him that “Taylor” helped out with Jarrett’s kids during a difficult time … then realized they were talking about Swift.

I’m not even sure who was involved in the conversation with Jeff that I overheard. I believe it was Jeremy Borash… I’m paraphrasing here, but the words were to the effect of “Taylor took the girls out for the day” and how important that time with her was to them. I was literally stunned to find out that the Taylor he had mentioned was Taylor Swift, who in 2007 was already well on her way to being a global superstar, with eponymous 2006 album, “Taylor Swift” several months into an astonishing 157 weeks on the #Billboard200 charts.

As touched as I was by this story, I thought it was a random act of kindness done on a one-time basis. But I came to understand that Taylor, who had become a neighbor of Jeff’s in Hendersonville, Tennessee and was a regular part of the girls lives as they grew up. She did not just take them out for that one day; she was there for them during the most difficult part of their lives. She baked cookies, she sang in their living room, she babysat while Jeff was at his wife’s bedside; she was a true friend and a shining example of kindness when kindness was needed most.

As Jeff himself put it in one of our texts, “Putting the girls in one of her videos (Jeff’s daughter, Jaclyn portrayed young Taylor in the 2010 video “Mine”) is the story most people know. Her spending quality time , baking cookies, talking, just being there, is what’s special. In the middle of her career exploding would have been “a reason” that she was too busy. That young lady is special.”

She truly is. I got tears in my eyes when I read that message from Jeff – and I’m grateful that he has allowed me to share it with all of you.

That’s exactly the kind of thing you want to hear about Swift or anyone on that level of fame. The fact that it has a pro wrestling connection is just the icing on the cake for us.

Mick Foley wants to lose 100 pounds, have a deathmatch for 60th birthday

Mick Foley is considering a deathmatch for his 60th birthday, though he doubts it would be in WWE.

A lot of us started 2024 thinking about the typical resolutions, like losing weight or getting in better shape. There probably aren’t many people, though, who want to drop a whole bunch of weight so they can be in a pro wrestling deathmatch.

Mick Foley isn’t most people. The pro wrestling icon and WWE Hall of Famer hasn’t appeared in a WWE ring since the 2021 Royal Rumble, and hasn’t taken part in a match of any kind since 2015, but he’s entertaining the idea of getting back in shape with a special target in mind: his 60th birthday.

Foley will hit the big 6-0 next summer, in June 2025, and as he explained on the final episode of his podcast, Foley is Pod, he’d like to lose 100 pounds so he can take part in a deathmatch to celebrate the occasion.

You know, like we all do.

“Sixty’s right around the corner, I’m gonna do one final match for my 60th birthday,” Foley said. “Deathmatch.”

“I’m not kidding,” he said when asked if he was joking by co-host Conrad Thompson. “It’d be a great incentive to drop those hundred big ones. And I think it might be fun.”

One thing he did say was not to expect his final match to take place in WWE, which might not have the stomach for what he has in mind.

“No, no, I don’t think so, because I think it would be a pretty gory spectacle.”

Foley said it’s just a thought for the moment, but one that he’s run by two of his children.

It didn’t take long for fans to show up in the podcast’s comments on social media to suggest potential opponents for Foley, including AEW star Jon Moxley. Matt Cardona, perhaps the top name on the indies and no stranger to deathmatches, also appeared to throw his hat in the ring.

There will undoubtedly be a segment of wrestling fandom hoping that Foley reconsiders, given his age and what he’s already given of his physical well-being to entertain people over the years. Still, as a one-off way to ride into the sunset of an incredible career, there’s no denying the thrill it might provide to see Foley get hardcore one last time.

2023 women’s wrestling stats: Examining how WWE, AEW and more booked women in 2023

An examination of how WWE, AEW and other promotions booked women in 2023 found no one offender but no shining star, either.

Women in sports, and more specifically women in wrestling, face a long path to equality and equity when compared to their counterparts. Progress depends greatly on willing promoters. Promoters need the willingness, fans need patience.

Slow progress is still progress, but in a time when other women’s sports are seeing an increase in attendance and viewership, the positioning of women’s wrestling stays relatively fixed and constant.

Diario AS shared that 4.85 million people watched the 2022 women’s NCAA final game; an 18% increase from the previous year. When considering “traditional” sports, 49% of fans are women.

The numbers for WWE’s audience don’t stray too far, according to PlayToday; 40% of WWE’s audience in 2020 were women.

Surely wrestling companies with weekly programming would want to tap into this audience and follow this trend, right? If more fans are watching women’s sports, it would be safe to assume promotions would respond by featuring their women’s divisions more.

Over the last few years, numbers tell another story.

Before diving into the meat of the analysis, it must be addressed that not everyone is a fan of women’s wrestling. While it’s certainly behind the times to completely avoid women’s sports, it’s not unheard of. Fans are entitled to like what they like and watch what they want to watch.

For women’s wrestling fans, the issue arises when promoters and bookers relay trust and faith in their women’s divisions but fail to deliver results. Women’s wrestling fans, too, are allowed to clamor for the type of wrestling they want. Both advocates and fans want to see a systematic change in how women athletes are presented in media, how much of them we see in the ring and an increase in opportunities that properly represent the talent that exists.

With all of this in mind, in an attempt to see where wrestling waivers, women’s wrestling stats were collected on promotions with weekly or consistent programming that is viewable on television, online subscriptions, streaming platforms or on pay-per-view. To get a proper look at women’s progress in comparison to their male counterparts, the wrestling promotions must have both a women’s division and a men’s division.

  • Areas where data was collected spells out where, when and how many women were used: wrestling shows, PPVs, rosters, titles and main events.
  • Show measurements: what percentage of total matches and match time had women, show cards that had zero women’s matches and show cards that had more than two women’s matches.
  • PPV measurements: what percentage of total PPV matches and PPV match time had women. PPV time and match stats include pre-shows.

Other percentages include how many titles a women can hold in a promotion and how many women were on their roster. The number of main events featuring women for both PPVs and shows were tallied as well. Rosters were pulled from official websites, and a title was added to the women’s percentage if at least one woman has competed for it.

Data was pulled from cagematch.net and profightdb.com, along with rewatches for any data not found.

Let’s start the breakdown with a side-by-side comparison between 2022 and 2023 for shows that ran both years. Below are graphs representing yearly changes in percentage of matches and match time that had women present.

From year-to-year, brands stay consistently low. If the goal is 50%, the percentages don’t come close. There’s not much change in either category for any brand. Sure, a year is a short amount of time when creating huge shifts in booking, but stagnant numbers are not promising for the future.

Even more interesting is looking at the two graphs together. NWA increased how many women’s matches it had but the time they got was the same. In 2022 and 2023, the AEW women’s division had, on average, more matches than it had time from bell-to-bell on Dynamite.

Now, what you’re undoubtedly waiting for: a brand-to-brand comparison. The quick comparison graphic below lists stats not shown in the above graphs.

There’s a lot to unpack here. It’s clear from the get-go that no one brand or show is the top dog in women’s wrestling. NXT has a roster to brag about, TNA lets women compete for most of its titles, and ROH has featured at least two women’s matches on every single show card. ROH and Rampage both have a high number of women’s main events on weekly shows. PPV stats are bleaker.

AEW brands all share the same PPV stats because there is no clear brand split. They give women 16.8% of PPV matches and only 9.8% of PPV match time. They’re painful numbers, but they aren’t the only ones. TNA has a women’s roster that makes up 25.4% of its total roster, but are only giving them 16% of total PPV matches.

SmackDown had four shows in 2023 that had zero women’s matches. For a brand that has preached a women’s revolution, the expectation is that it would have women on every show.

MLW says it’s working on building a women’s featherweight division, but besides a few titleholders, has failed to create an actual division — or give the women time on their shows. Twenty-five shows out of 47 had zero women’s matches. MLW would do well to tap into the talent it does have, like current champ Janai Kai, and focus on outreach.

AEW has a well-known issue of failing to book more than one women’s match on a show, and it’s nearly the same for their PPVs. Out of its eight PPVs, five had only one women’s match. For a company with two women’s titles, it’s hard to believe those titles can’t be defended more.

For the most part, the numbers from brand-to-brand are not so different that it would reveal an incredibly problematic company, or a shining example of what a promotion should do with their women.

The real issue stands out like a sore thumb: Women’s wrestling is treated nowhere near equal. Treading around the 25-33% mark, or worse, is not advancing women in sports.

Promotions will argue that the stories outside of the ring matter, too. That’s true — to a point. Many fans want to care about the wrestlers in the ring; they need story and a reason to cheer or boo. As a kayfabe sport, that makes sense. But without women in the ring, we can’t really argue that a company is advancing a women’s sport. At the heart of every fan is a person who wants to see competition: blood, sweat, and a story finished.

The issue carries over year-to-year. How long can we hear promotions boast about their women’s division, their greatness, their talent, and then not give them time? Creating a 50/50 environment for men and women is not easy, especially when a promoter has booked themselves into a brick wall.

How does WWE create opportunities for a healthy 15 women if they can’t book 35 men? How can AEW create room on a card for their women’s division that only makes up 21.8% of their total roster? How does MLW move forward with eight women to their 39 men? It’s not an overnight change, but the changes need to be made if women are to be treated equal.

Why is creating equality in wrestling important? Besides the desire for fairness, sports have a long-reaching influence.

If you’ve ever watched a wrestling show and the camera scans over to a young person smiling bright and big, you’ve seen the reach wrestling has. Young girls have openly told Bianca Belair she’s a role model and they’re happy someone on TV looks like them.

Representation, equality and equity in women’s wrestling starts in the ring. It’s up to the promoters to make that a priority and book with those goals in mind. Sometimes, that means teaching your audience. If they only present what they’ve always presented, the numbers will never increase.

When women are treated as the sideshow, like women in wrestling were for so many years, it communicates that women are not strong and not worthy. Gone are the years of panties and bras matches, but there’s still work to do. Safety, pay, energy, time and faith are the ingredients needed to grow an industry for women in all areas of wrestling. Ingredients we can all share.

It takes patience to see real growth and positive progress. Mindsets and systematic issues don’t improve overnight. Women’s wrestling fans have patience, but are growing restless. It’s time for the revolution to really knock on the door.

The fans will wait, if the promoters are willing.

Matt Riddle, controversial past and all, looks to start anew with MLW

Does Matt Riddle understand why WWE let him go? Ahead of his MLW debut, he says he does.

Matt Riddle estimates he hasn’t had this much time off since he was 21 years old.

In the last three months, the now 37-year-old has been paid by WWE to sit at home and do nothing related to professional wrestling thanks to a 90-day non-compete clause that was triggered once the company released him back in September.

Riddle’s release marked the end of a run that featured its share of professional highs and personal lows. The most recent low was an incident at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York that occurred shortly before his release, where Riddle was seen on video being belligerent to airport staff.

The release, although abrupt in nature, was not a complete surprise to Riddle. He understood why.

“I think they were just sick of my shit at times,” he said during a phone interview with Wrestling Junkie.

And there was a lot of excrement to sort through. Between a sexual assault allegation and subsequent lawsuit that was eventually dropped and issues with substance abuse, the sudden end to Riddle’s WWE tenure gave him the time to go home, spend more time with his growing family (he welcomed his fourth child to the world in late 2023), hit the reset button and start anew. It is badly needed, as his reputation amongst wrestling fans has taken a serious hit.

The next chapter of Riddle’s wrestling journey begins at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Saturday, Jan. 6, where he is scheduled to face Jacob Fatu at Major League Wrestling’s Kings of Colosseum. It will be Riddle’s first non-WWE match in more than five years.

Also on the card will be an MLW World Heavyweight title bout with Alex Kane defending against Richard Holliday and a match between Japanese wrestling legend Satoshi Kojima and former Impact World Champion Sami Callihan that will air on “MLW Fusion.”

“MLW, before I signed with WWE, was probably the most professional place I worked,” Riddle said. “They were always on the level. I felt like they had great stories and a good process of how they did everything.”

“I think I’m going to be able to show a side of me that I haven’t been able to show in a long, long time,” he later said.

The wrestling landscape is far different from the one Riddle left behind when he signed with WWE in 2018. Back then, the independent scene was thriving, in large part due to up-and-coming wrestlers like Riddle.

Today, the independent scene is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and a good chunk of the goodwill Riddle garnered during his time as an independent wrestler has diminished.

The former WWE United States Champion may be looking to start anew, but that does not mean his slate has been completely wiped clean. Riddle’s controversial reputation has followed him to MLW. It has also cast a shadow on his upcoming appearance for New Japan Pro Wrestling, who aired a video of him challenging the iconic Hiroshi Tanahashi to a future match. 

The video was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, and judging by the replies, it is clear that there is at least a portion of the wrestling fan base that has yet to forgive Riddle for his past transgressions.

Riddle, who began his career in professional wrestling after being fired from UFC for being “a moron,” according to company president Dana White, understands the narrative surrounding him at the moment and chalks some of it up to his own doing. But he also points to members of the wrestling media/zeitgeist, who in his mind, put his name in stories merely as a way to drive engagement and not because it is the cold, hard truth.

It is something that Riddle admits he didn’t always handle well during his time in WWE.

“As a WWE superstar, you know, it’s one of those weird things,” Riddle recalls. “Even when you’re growing up and you’re training to do this stuff and you’re just sitting around with guys that have done it, and they’re like ‘Hey, just be careful, you know, when you’re making it to the top or you’re trying to. People will come out of the woodwork and try to hurt you and try to ruin your career or this, that and the other thing.’

“For me, I’d be like, ‘No way! That’s crazy!’ But then as you grow older and you start working your way up the card and you’re in WrestleManias and everything else, you start to notice that if people don’t get what they want from you, they will try to do that. I feel like that happens more so when you’re under that magnifying glass of a company like WWE. And that’s not a knock on them. It’s a good thing, I guess, in the sense of the attention and stuff like that. But also at the same time with professional wrestling fans — whether you have people writing articles or doing stories — the fans … they believe a lot. ”

“That was the most stressful thing,” he later added. “Anything can be blown out of proportion and look a certain way and you’ve got a bunch of other people speculating on the internet. That was probably the hardest part.”

As an example, Riddle points to a recent report that he cut his hair. Riddle claims he has not cut any inches off his hair and has no idea where the story came from. Riddle says his mother even called him to ask if he had, in fact, cut his hair, to which he said he hadn’t. Judging by the video of Riddle New Japan aired during its New Year Dash event, it looks like he is still sporting his trademark locks.

The way Riddle looks at it, it’s just the latest case of someone wanting to put his name in a story for the wrong reasons.

“Unfortunately, other people look at it differently,” he explained. “Other people aren’t as smart or educated and they’re not me. They don’t live my story or my situation. It’s kind of hard. They just hear what people say. For me, for the most part, I’m not going to go on the internet and defend myself. I feel like, ‘What’s the point?’”

“If it was, I don’t know, not true or exaggerated or whatever it is, I have no idea how I should even go about doing this in 2024. So I kind of just sit back and let people do whatever they want. At the end of the day, people are going to do what they want, and I always look at it as the cream always rises to the top. As long as I work hard and put my best effort forward and I’m nice to people, usually things work out.”

While the haircut story is apparently fake news, the UFC firing, the WWE wellness policy suspensions and eventual firing, and his belligerent behavior at JFK was not. These were, in fact, true events. But what has Riddle taken away from all of this?

“I took away a lot of lessons, but would I go back and change anything? No.” he said. “Everything happens for a reason. Just like when I got fired by the UFC for a reason so I could make it to WWE and I got fired from WWE for a reason so I can do something else.”

“For me, I need the rainy days to enjoy the sunny ones,” he later added.

Mustafa Ali releases ‘World Tour Campaign’ video, looks like bigger star than he ever looked in WWE

Mustafa Ali vs. Okada? Ospreay? Vikingo? Cardona? ZSJ? He wants you to get hyped about the possibilities.

Want to see Mustafa Ali wrestle Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, El Hijo del Vikingo or Matt Cardona? He’d like to open you up to those possibilities and more for 2024.

Among a number of other wrestlers released from WWE this year, Ali became a free agent as of today. And he wasted no time dropping a stylish video announcing his “World Tour Campaign,” hinting at potential matchups with some of the best wrestlers in the world.

“You see, our great sport has fallen into the hands of leaders who are corrupt!” Ali says in the video. “Leaders who are selfish! Leaders the kicked down the door of opportunity only to shut that door behind them! And now, with righteous anger in my heart, I am here to announce that I am launching a campaign to rid our sport of these corrupt leaders! I will right their wrongs. And I will be the leader that we need.”

Yes, he really uses that many exclamation points, but as you can see in the video below, they’re warranted.

If you were completely unfamiliar with Ali’s work in WWE, you’d think this was a massive star. And that’s kind of the point.

In any case, expect to see Ali pop up all over the place next year, as he certainly seems to be relishing in his “freedom” from WWE.

Matt Riddle set for MLW return while also teasing MMA fights in 2024

Matt Riddle may be gearing up for both wrestling and MMA matches next year.

Matt Riddle will be wrestling again soon, but he may also step into another kind of ring or cage next year.

MLW president Cort Bauer revealed today on Busted Open Radio that he had signed Riddle to face Jacob Fatu on a Jan. 6 show at the 2300 Arena (the former ECW Arena) in Philadelphia. It will be a first time ever matchup between the two men.

Riddle has yet to appear in any wrestling promotion since he was released by WWE in late September. Though he was pushed as a fairly big star at times, Riddle’s time with WWE was marked by several violations of the company’s wellness policy and other incidents, including one at JFK Airport earlier this year.

It won’t be the first time Riddle has competed at an MLW event. He’s wrestled on several of the promotion’s cards in 2017-18, facing opponents like Tom Lawlor, Jeff Cobb and current AEW star Swerve Strickland.

Returning to wrestling may not be all Riddle has planned for 2024. A former UFC fighter with an 8-3-2 record in MMA, he may also be entertaining thoughts of unscripted fighting again. Riddle told MMA Junkie’s Nolan King earlier this week that “there’s a very big possibility that I get back in the ring or cage pretty soon.”

His hint toward a ring over a cage suggests Riddle could be considering a fight for BKFC, a bare-knuckle boxing promotion based in Philadelphia that has seen an influx of ex-UFC fighters over the past few years.

In the meantime, fans can definitely catch Riddle when he takes on Fatu at MLW Kings of Colosseum 2024 on Jan. 6. Tickets are on sale now, and the show will be broadcast by FITE as part of TrillerTV+.