During an interview with the New York Post, Matt Riddle openly spoke about why he feels this era of professional wrestling is the next great era, why he wants to retire Brock Lesnar, and how he may use the WWE 24/7 Championship to do just that:
Matt Riddle talks about today’s era of wrestling:
“I felt like wrestling when I got into it, I felt like it was not dead and it was doing OK. And when I started, NXT started like blowing up and this started blowing up, the [WWE] Network started blowing up and before I knew it, I was in the indies making six figures a year and never wrestling on TV, only the internet and gymnasiums.
“And WWE is everywhere, there are all these other brands and companies all around the world and now there’s another company. I’m not going to mention names, but they’re on that same network that other company was on back in the day. And you know what, for me, I don’t think the competition is like real, real, but at the same time [there is] the illusion of competition, that fact that “Oh my God there might be another war” between two competitive brands.
“And some people get scared, but me, I love competition. I want them to push the envelope, make us push the envelope. Let’s get it going because if we can do that, we are going to enter the next great era in professional wrestling.
“I know I’m right if it’s pushed that way. And I know the competition. I know the athletes on both can probably do it. But you never know. But that’s why I think we might be there. I know the WWE fans also hope so because we want edge. I want edge. I want edgier stuff. I want my leash to be cut completely off. I want to be able to do what I want. I want to be able to run free.
“So it’s not like I don’t get freedom. I do. But I would love like real, real freedom. I think the fans would love it. Just like they did in the Attitude Era. That’s why the Attitude Era is known as the greatest in wrestling. It wasn’t the wrestling, trust me, I’ve seen the matches. It was the promos. It was the characters. It was that. And why? Because they weren’t on leashes.
“I’m telling you, I think that’s the key. And again, I’m not controlled. I get a lot of freedom and they give it to me and they give it to everybody. But at the same time, there could be another level of that and I think if we pushed far enough we could make happen.”
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Matt Riddle discusses his determination to retire Brock Lesnar:
“At the beginning, it was just a gimmick. You know, a goal of mine. One, I wanted to do it when I saw him beat The Undertaker. So he beat the streak at WrestleMania. So right there he solidified himself in WWE history just by doing that. And then when I see him, I just see a guy who’s kind of like bullied everyone from Day 1, and I hate bullies. I know it sounds cliche, but literally, the reason I fought is dudes like that fight and I love breaking dudes and watching them go from a bully to a child and be like, ‘Now, how does it feel?’
“And honestly, I want to break him. I want to break him and show the world him [breaking] and I want to beat him and I want to be the one because I think I’m the only one who can carry what he’s done and not like he’s carried it but in a better way.”
Matt Riddle on if he has any desire to capture the WWE 24/7 Championship:
