As this story continued to develop on Wednesday, one side that didn’t make any statements was Global Wrestling Kingdom, the promotion that had booked Riddle last weekend. That changed on Thursday, with GWK releasing a statement of their own through Facebook, revealing that Riddle had now paid them back his deposit, and that he had “given us his word” that he would reimburse the promotion for his expenses.

The statement also gave GWK’s side of the story, stating that Riddle raised no issues with his flight and accommodations when they booked him through his manager in April, contradicting Riddle’s remarks from yesterday. GWK also claimed they attempted to arrange seminars for Riddle to lead, only for his manager to ask if they could book him for an event in Paris that Saturday instead. According to GWK, that arrangement fell apart when the Paris promotion refused to work with Riddle, and their attempts to get him booked elsewhere also failed.

GWK then claimed that they attempted to get Riddle to cut a promo for the event for months, only getting him to do so days before. Despite Riddle’s claims yesterday, the promotion states he never discussed other bookings he had in the US that week, raised no issues regarding his transportation or accommodations, and in fact never responded to them reaching out regarding his flight or his driver picking him up at the airport. 

Only on Friday night did GWK hear back from Riddle, where he allegedly expressed dissatisfaction with his flight and revealed he was taking other bookings. The promotion claims they attempted to persuade Riddle to take another flight to make the show, even reminding him it was a charity event, but received no response from him until Wednesday, after the story had blown up.