THIS Ex-WWE Star To Debut For NJPW Next Month

One of several names released by WWE earlier this year...

by Andrew Pollard
Buddy Murphy
WWE.com

One of the many names released by WWE this year, the former Buddy Murphy will soon be making his New Japan Pro Wrestling debut.

Now going by the name Buddy Matthews, those in attendance at last night's NJPW Strong taping reported that a video aired to announce Matthews will be debuting during the Battle in the Valley event that will take place in San Jose, California on 13 November.

Matthews has been a free agent for over a month now, with his WWE 90-day non-compete clause having expired on 31 August. The Australian was part of WWE's 2 June round of mass releases. During his time in Vince McMahon's sports entertainment juggernaut, the Best Kept Secret won the NXT Tag Team Titles, WWE Cruiserweight Championship, and had a run with Seth Rollins as the Raw Tag Champs.

Advertisement

Buddy's last WWE match came on the pre-WrestleMania 37 edition of SmackDown, where he was an entrant in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Matthews has competed twice since his WWE non-compete expired, winning a triple threat PPW match against Facade and JT Dunn, then defeating KC Navaroo for Battleground Championship Wrestling last month.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.