Matt Riddle’s attempt to get a restraining order against the woman who accused him of sexual assault has ended with a voluntary dismissal request on Riddle’s behalf. Matt Riddle was accused in June by Candy Cartwright of sexually assaulting her in 2018 when the two were engaged in a consensual affair.
Riddle has denied the allegations and his lawyer initially said that “We have been aware for the last two years of this performer stalking the Riddle family.” After Cartwright posted a picture of herself and Riddle together that was allegedly from 2019, Riddle acknowledged he had been engaged in an affair with Cartwright but broke it off and she began stalking him afterward.
According to Babyface vs. Heels, the website for Orange County Court in Florida began returning search results for Riddle’s attempt t get a restraining order against Cartwright through his lawyer Daniel J. Rose. However, the request was requested to be dismissed by Rose and Riddle 36 hours before a hearing was set to take place.
Bixenspan noted that Riddle alleged in his initial petition that Cartwright had “Committed stalking,” “Previously threatened, harassed, stalked, cyberstalked, or physically abused the Petitioner,” “Threatened to harm Petitioner or family members or individuals closely associated with Petitioner,” “Used, or threatened to use, against Petitioner any weapons such as guns or knives,” and “Destroyed personal property, including, but not limited to, telephones or other communication equipment, clothing, or other items belonging to Petitioner.”
He claimed to have met her in 2016 and their affair began on November 6th, 2017. He states that he tried to end the affair in June of 2018 but it continued going, with Riddle alleging he finally tries to break it off for good in July of 2019. Riddle then claims that Cartwright had “systematically stalked, cyberstalked, and harassed myself and my wife” since July 9 of that year. He states that he blocked her on social media and changed his phone number, after which she texted him from a burner phone saying “that if I did not leave my wife for her that I would be sorry and she would ruin my career.” Riddle then alleges that he and his lawyer considered filing a restraining order then but instead contacted WWE and told them of the situation.
The petition then alleges that on an unnamed day in February of this year, Cartwright showed up at Full Sail University where he was working “and made a scene and had to be escorted out of the building.” There is no mention of which day this is, and Bixenspan notes that there were four days of NXT shooting at Full Sail that month, one of which Riddle didn’t appear at. Full Sail has yet to return requests to confirm whether such an incident went down. There are no other incidents listed before Cartwright’s public accusation of sexual assault in June, which Riddle claims is part of Cartwright’s pattern of harassment.
Riddle claims that in Cartwright’s allegation, she “posted my home address and my wife’s phone number” on Twitter and that his wife received “numerous crank calls and death threats (which are recorded and can be brought to trial).” The tweet in question is attached as an exhibit with a piece of paper covering the space that would list the phone number with Lisa Riddle Cell Phone #” written by hand. The still-posted tweet has the number redacted as you can see below. Riddle’s home address was posted by a fan who appears to be unconnected to Cartwright in response to the tweet.
