Matt Riddle Shoves Fan at Boca Raton Wrestling Event
Matt Riddle was involved in a physical altercation with a fan at a Boca Raton Championship Wrestling event on Sunday night, with video of the incident circulating on Instagram.
Footage posted by James Michael Oja, Jr. shows Riddle approaching Oja near the barricade during his match with Stallion Rogers, smiling, exchanging words, and then shoving him in the face. Oja remained on his feet.
Prior to the event, Riddle had responded to Oja's online challenges — in which Oja had called out several wrestlers — by posting on Instagram, "I'm showing up to your job site bro."
Oja attended the show and filmed a promo with independent wrestler Big Ben Bishop mocking the crowd and promotion.
The video was shared on Instagram by James Michael Oja, Jr., who refers to himself as a “bad-*ss construction worker.” Oja had previously issued online challenges to several wrestlers, including Riddle.
The incident occurred during Riddle's match with Stallion Rogers. Oja was standing near the barricade when Riddle approached him, smiled, said something, and then shoved him in the face. Oja remained on his feet throughout the incident.
Riddle has been active on the independent circuit since his September 2023 WWE release, which followed an incident at JFK International Airport. He returned to the ring in February 2024 at Adrenaline Championship Wrestling and quickly picked up steam, also capturing the Combat 1 World Championship that same month.
He re-signed with Major League Wrestling, where he worked prior to joining WWE, and won his first major post-WWE title when he defeated Satoshi Kojima for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship in January 2025 in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,400 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
He subsequently retained the title by winning the 40-man MLW Battle Riot in April 2025, last eliminating RVD.
During his MLW run, he also competed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, TNA, and Lucha Libre AAA.
Riddle's indie run has not been without controversy. In August 2025, he allegedly no-showed a UK charity event — Al Snow's Global Wrestling Kingdom — advertised since May, forcing the promotion to issue meet-and-greet refunds, and reportedly never returned his deposit.
He also allegedly no-showed another indie booking in October 2025 at the last minute.
