After missing shows for New Japan Pro Wrestling last month, it appears we have some clarity on what happened to Matt Sydal.
According to a report from Nikkan Sports on Friday, Sydal was arrested at the Kansai International Airport on September 23rd after a flight to Japan. Sydal was allegedly caught with slightly over two grams of liquid cannabis that was contained in a hidden pipe, as well as a pipe attached to an electronic cigarette.
The entirety of the punishment that Sydal could face isn’t immediately clear, but Japan is known to have strict drug laws. And he faces a potential, if not likely ban from the country.
Intrigue grew over what had happened to Sydal after he missed multiple shows on NJPW’s Destruction tour in September. It was then officially announced that the NEVER Openweight Six-Man tag titles that Sydal had held with Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima would be vacated and contested in a match pitting Ricochet, Kojima and David Finlay against Adam Cole and The Young Bucks.
Ricochet, Kojima and Finlay won the vacant titles. And after that match, Finlay replaced Sydal as Ricochet’s tag team partner as they challenged The Young Bucks for their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at King of Pro Wrestling earlier this week.
Attempting to address the speculation as to what happened, Sydal’s Twitter account had claimed last month that he was in Hawaii after having passport trouble at the border.