Matt Riddle has more claims about his former employers.
Matt Riddle is doing relatively well on the independent scene. Though he likely messed up his partnership with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and TNA, the 39-year-old is currently killing it down in MLW as he’s representing the brand as their top champion.
However, Riddle can’t stop bashing some of his former co-workers. In this case, Riddle trashed CM Punk, Roman Reigns, and Goldberg. During an interview with MZ’s Inside The Ring podcast, he claims that Punk is still difficult to work with and takes some shots at his wrestling ability.
“I have good friends on the roster that still say he’s a bitch to work with. If he didn’t generate the amount of money and attention that he does, he wouldn’t be there. Kudos to him, the guy packs an arena, he sells tickets, he sells merchandise. When you’re looking at WWE, especially with TKO, I don’t think they care about anything else. They go, ‘What do you want to get paid? You bring this much value, okay, good.’ Right now, hats off to him, he’s killing it. He’s wrestling, he’s staying active, he’s staying busy. His fans seem to love him. So, I have no ill will towards the man, I just don’t think he’s, well, good at fighting. I think his better days of wrestling are way behind him. That’s not a knock, I’ll tell you this, I’m not getting that much better, faster, or stronger and I can tell you that he’s definitely not either, especially with all the botches.”
Punk has managed to keep a clean image since returning to WWE in 2023, so there’s no telling if Riddle’s claims about Punk are true or not, but the MLW World Heavyweight Champion didn’t end his statement there. Riddle says that both Goldberg and Roman Reigns would get angry with him everytime he spit some “facts”.
"The thing is, I’ve noticed this, even with Bill Goldberg and certain people I’ve rubbed the wrong way. Even Roman Reigns at one point I rubbed the wrong way, they get really angry when you spit facts. So if I say you’re hard to work with and you can’t fight, CM Punk gets really mad. When I say Goldberg, you’re a terrible wrestler and you injure people, he gets mad.
They asked me to talk crap about Roman, I told everybody, ‘Hey, you might beat me in the ring, but if we were in a cage or in the street, I’d beat the hell out of him.’ He knows that and I know that and everybody else knows that. From what I’ve noticed, and it’s crazy because we’re in this world of sports entertainment, a lot of people get really angry and really uncomfortable with the truth. Especially fans as well.”
It’s highly unlikely, but if Punk, Roman, or Goldberg responds then it should definitely be noteworthy. You can say many things about Riddle, but you can’t say that he’s afraid to speak his mind.