Former WWE star Matt Riddle recently appeared as a guest on the Kurt Angle Show for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling. During the discussion, Riddle commented on if he feels the WWE/UFC merger into TKO played a part in his release:
“I think that definitely didn’t help things. Me and Dana White don’t have the greatest relationship and I know he’s definitely a big part of that. It definitely played a part. Also, I know that they’re making budget cuts regardless, and I was getting paid quite a pretty penny. I don’t know if it was right before RKO Bro or right after, Laurinaitis pulled me into the office. I thought I was in trouble. I didn’t get my vaccine yet. I went in there and they were like, ‘Hey, we want to give you a raise’, and they gave me a substantial raise. It increased every year and this year, I was gonna get paid a million a year. I was at 750. I mean, last year I cleared my bucket. I did extremely well. I think that was a big contributing factor. I was gonna get paid a million dollars starting next year, but I also think, you know, the merger didn’t help, and then also my behavior didn’t help either. You know, I ruffled some feathers with HR in the last couple months I was there. I asked a couple questions, this, that, plus other things. So I think there’s multiple reasons why they got rid of me, but it is what it is. One door shuts and another one opens and you just learn from your mistakes and stuff.”
If he has any regrets or done some things differently:
“There’s a lot of things, you know, that I probably would have done a little differently. I probably wouldn’t have talked a lot of sh*t that I talked. I’ll be honest, like, you know, working on the road, traveling that much, and then bad decisions, and that’s just what happens. That’s life. You have bad people around, you know, unfortunately, when you’re on the road, sometimes it’s out of control. So that’s it, but I have no regrets. You only live once and you learn from your mistakes.”
On getting ready to work with New Japan:
“Dude, I’ve been waiting to go to Japan since before the WWE. I was trying to get there before WWE. It’s just that when they finally offered me a deal, WWE offered me a deal and the money was right, I’d be closer to my family, and other things, so I kind of went with that, especially at that age. My kids were a lot younger. Now that I’m older, you know, I got another opportunity and I’m literally, I couldn’t be more excited.”
You can check out the complete podcast at AdFreeShows.com.
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
