By early 2014, Matt Riddle had won 5 straight UFC fights in a row… (Yes there was Marijuana somewhere in there, but he still won)
Then he got released…
He’d loved professional wrestling since he was just the age of seven…
“I feel like it clicked that day,” Riddle said during his time on The MMA Hour.
“I thought I could do that and do it better,” he said. “I’m in my prime. Nothing was working out in MMA.”
Dana White, the Head Honcho of the UFC, dropped him because of his second Marijuana violation…
Most people, (including Riddle) say that White, during the incident, sorta screwed Riddle over…
“That didn’t hurt,” Riddle said. “I was just more disappointed. I spilled a lot of blood and broke some bones for that company, and to be talked down to, that was disappointing. But for me, it was more the fact he said that I’d never be able to earn money being a loser and this and that. And I can honestly say, I’m making more money than I ever did in UFC, and doing it on my terms and loving life. Granted, I’ll never be Dana White rich, but I don’t want to be. I’m not that kind of guy.”
Look out John Cena, Matthew Fredrick Riddle is coming for the top…
“It’s funny, but when I did MMA, I got to the UFC so quick, so when I started (pro wrestling), I assumed I’d get to the WWE, but it’s taken me longer to do it,” Riddle said. “But I’m not too surprised. It took a couple of years getting the people’s respect and their trust and becoming that character for them. I’m definitely not disappointed. I think it’s better this way, for pro wrestling, to come up slowly and to build your way up. In MMA, if you go right to UFC and win fights, you’re the man. In pro wrestling, you can’t just get that push.”
He’s currently wrestling with a WWE affiliated company, known as Evolve…
“When I first started, they wanted me to do a pro wrestling style, clotheslines and dropkicks, that I can do. But I’m not a pro wrestler, I’m an MMA fighter,” Riddle said. “Once I started working for Evolve (in late 2015), they didn’t want me to do clotheslines, or dropkicks or cross bodies, nothing. They wanted me to go out there and do MMA, do a fight. That’s when I started doing open palm strikes, kicks, hard forearms, European uppercuts hard. Everything’s hard. I hit somebody, it’s hard. It’s not soft and it’s not a work. I don’t consider what I do as pro wrestling. I consider it sport wrestling. When I hit you, I hit you, but I don’t kill you.
“When I kick someone in the head, I don’t kick you in the head, but to the body. The body slams, that’s real,” he continued.
“If you like pro wrestling and MMA, you’ll see I’m making sweat fly off fools and slamming them on their heads.”
“The best part about coming from an MMA background is that I didn’t come over to pro wrestling to be an over-the-top character,” he said. “I came to be myself.”
“I’m in no rush [to get to WWE],” Riddle said. “I’m doing very well. I get to see my family every week. If I was working for WWE, it would be rough. My schedule is very relaxed and I do well.
“There’s things I want to do first, and there’s things you can’t do if you are there. I’d like to wrestle in Japan and work for New Japan (the No. 2 pro wrestling company in the world). I’d like to wrestle guys like (Katsuyori) Shibata and (Minoru) Suzuki and the high level New Japan guys. And I can wrestle in Europe or I can go to Japan. That’s the real good part of wrestling indies. You can wrestle anyone anytime unless you sign with WWE.”
“It’s the greatest sport ever,” Riddle said. “There’s only one sport where you can test yourself against another man or another woman, go out, give 100 percent. You can’t even tape your ankles and you can’t even wear knee pads.”
“The politics of MMA I’m not a fan of,” he said. “I love the politics of indie wrestling. As long as you’re a good guy and a nice person, it’s great.”
