Matt Riddle’s reign as MLW World Heavyweight Champion has just begun.
The 39-year-old finally became a world champion at Kings of Colosseum, but that was the easy part. Riddle successfully defended his belt against Alex Kane and Satoshi Kojima at Superfight 6 last month, but that doesn’t compare to the annual Battle Riot.
The “King of Bros” is forced to defend the MLW World Heavyweight Championship in a 40-wrestler match where pinfalls, submissions, and over-the-top eliminations all count.
Now Riddle is no stranger to the Battle RIOT match. In fact, Matt won the annual match last year to get his MLW World Heavyweight title shot in the first place. But this is a new territory for Riddle as guys like Donovan Dijak, who has been a monster since joining MLW, are entering this year’s contest.
This is also the first time that the Battle RIOT match has been held for the World Heavyweight Championship. MLW has already confirmed several big names; former MLW World Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima, Paul Walter Hauser, Bobby Fish, Paul London, and Brock Anderson are just some of the competitors vying to dethrone Riddle’s spot on the top of the mountain.
MLW’s Battle RIOT match is always an entertaining and wild contest. This year shouldn’t be any different. What are the rules for the match? It’s an anything goes battle royal where a new participant enters the ring every 60 seconds. MLW promises a variety of names including stars from MLW, CMLL, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
The inaugural match started in 2018 and there’s yet to be a man that’s won the match twice. Will Matt Riddle become the first guy to do so? Check out the line-up for the special Battle RIOT event that’s scheduled for April 5 at Commerce Casino & Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. The card is still taking shaping so changes can still happen from now until April 5th.
40-wrestler Battle RIOT match for Matt Riddle’s MLW World Heavyweight Championship.
Below are the Participants (so far):
•Matt Riddle (champion)
•Donovan Dijak
•Satoshi Kojima
•Barbaro Cavernario
•Hechicero
•Paul Walter Hauser
•Paul London
•BRG
•Bobby Fish
•Brock Anderson
•Okumura
MLW World Middleweight Championship:
Místico (champion) vs. Templario
MLW Women’s World Featherweight Championship:
Delmi Exo (champion) vs. Shoko Nakajima