Stephan Bonnar Slams Matt Riddle, Claims He Pulled Out of Their Scheduled Match Out of Fear

– WrestlingInc.com recently interviewed former MMA fighter and UFC Hall of Famer Stephan Bonnar for the WINCLY podcast. Bonnar is now retired from MMA and is pursuing a career in pro wrestling. During the interview, he expressed anger at current NXT Superstar Matt Riddle for apparently bowing out of a scheduled match they were supposed to have. Below are some highlights for WrestlingInc.com.

For some background, Riddle and Bonnar were scheduled to face each other at the House of Glory High Intensity 6 event back in 2017. This was going to be Bonnar’s pro wrestling debut. After Matt Riddle reportedly backed out of the match, Bonnar instead faced Sho Tanaka.

Bonnar on Matt Riddle: “Riddle b—hed out the day of [the match] just like in the UFC – nothing’s changed. He ducked on out, he pulled out the day of. He got a case of ‘pussitis’. He hadn’t quite gotten over in pro wrestling, he was right at his critical point and he knew a match with me could have buried him. He didn’t want to take that risk – too much was at stake, so the day of the event, Riddle pulled out. That’s what happened, bottom line he had too much too lose. I cut promos on him for that and you know what I got back? Nothing, zero. I got a guy that pulled out the day of. What’s that tell you? The guy pulls out the day of and he won’t respond to your promos. Alright, I’ll let everyone else that’s listening to this show make their decision on what that means. Those are the facts. I’m just looking at the facts and you just brought up ‘fear’ – yeah, I think you’re on to something, my friend. Don’t worry, I won’t tell him you said this. Well, I’m the 205-er, the ‘American Psycho’, no one has ever so much as even wobbled me. So yeah, he bowed to me in the UFC. Why would anything change in pro wrestling?”

Bonnar on different styles of wrestling: “Some of them are but some of them aren’t – some are going that other style of pro wrestling, which is the acrobatic route. And some are going kind of that shoot route, and you’ve got two different schools of pro wrestling developing. Like all these different styles, different shows have styles. I’m new to this so I’m learning more and more but you’re learning what kind of show and what kind of wrestling you can expect from which show. I’m a fan of it all, and I’ll sit in awe and watch these guys doing these amazing things that I can’t do ever in a million years. I’m never going to try. And that’s the beauty of it – I don’t have to. And likewise, on the other end of that coin – or I don’t know if it’s a coin or whatever you call it, but you have the guys mutilating themselves, and falling off of ladders through tables, and the lightbulb thing with shards of glass going in them, and I’ll watch that in awe and amazement as well. But there’s no way I’ll be doing it. F–k no, I bleed naturally. It happens enough, man. My face is all scar tissue; you don’t have to gimmick me up to bleed. Like, if it happens it happens, and it happens plenty. I just did a match with Moose for Impact where he f–king suplexed him, his head came up, and smacked me in the corner of the eye which is all scar tissues and magic happened.”

On who he wants to face at Paradigm Pro Wrestling’s Fighting Spirit Heavyweight Grand Prix event: “Paradigm Pro Wrestling wants to make things my way – Stephan Bonnar ‘The American Psycho’. And that means shoot style really, to make it in terms that you’d understand… What am I looking for [in an opponent]? Just a slab of meat that I can inflict violence on really. And he does it to me too, you know? He can do it to me too, I don’t care. He can dish it, I can take it. Let’s make pro wrestling violent again. The riots at these types of shows is because in 2005, two guys had a little show called The Ultimate Fighter. I had a fight that put a sport over and that sport bled on pro wrestling, and that’s what you’re getting.”