Matt Riddle doesn’t regret how his WWE release went down.
The former WWE star was riding high in 2021 - 2022 as RK-Bro was the hottest act in WWE. There was a controversy with Candy Cartwright, where she brought out sexual assault allegations against him, but that lawsuit was dropped eventually. Following that, it seemed that Riddle was primed to be in the main event spot.
Once Randy Orton went down with an injury, WWE put him in the main event position and Riddle’s performances made him even more of a popular star. But by the time 2023 rolled around, all the good will that Riddle had was gone. Part of it was that WWE had booked him to lose so much once he returned from his drug test suspension.
The other part was that Riddle’s actions outside of the company was starting to make him look bad. The final straw was the incident at JFK Airport that ultimately sealed his fate in WWE. Looking back, Riddle knows the mistakes he made, but the former United States Champion has no regrets on how the end of his career went down:
At the same time, that’s kind of the story of my life,” Riddle said on Developmentally Speaking. “In the UFC, five-fight win streak, beating top-ranked fighters, ranked top ten in the world at welterweight, you smoke weed, you’re fired. WWE, you’re killing it, your partner gets hurt, you’re kind of the guy that gets beat up by The Bloodline all the time or what you have, which is fine. But then you go to the airport, you have a couple cocktails and shit goes wrong, people say stuff to you. Whatever.”
He continued, “At the end of the day, things happen, I am where I am. People would probably yell at me, but I wouldn’t change it for the world [laughs]. That’s just who I am. You’re supposed to have ups and downs, peaks and valleys.”
Riddle has stated in past interviews that he can see himself ending up back in WWE. If the WWE star manages to keep a clean image for a good period of time then there’s always a possibility. Meanwhile, the 38-year-old has been working hard on the independent scene as Riddle's been in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Major League Wrestling, and TNA Wrestling. Check out the full interview where Riddle talks about his time in UFC, Dana White, Triple H, and so much more!