On a recent edition of “The Kurt Angle Show” podcast, MLW’s newest signee Matt Riddle discussed his release from WWE this past September.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On whether the WWE-TKO merger sped up his WWE release: “I think that definitely didn’t help things. And Dana White doesn’t have the greatest relationship. And I know he’s definitely a big part of that. And yeah, it definitely played a part. Also, I know that we’re making budget cuts regardless, and I was getting paid quite a pretty penny. I don’t know if those RKOBro or right after the [John] Laurinaitis pulled me into the office, but I thought I was in trouble. I was like, ‘Oh, I hadn’t gotten my vaccine yet.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, man, and you went in there,’ like, ‘Hey, we wanted to give you a raise,’ and they gave me a substantial raise. And it was increased every year, and this year, I was gonna get paid a million a year. I was at 750. And I mean, last year, I cleared my bucket. I did extremely well. So, I think that was a big contributing factor. I was gonna get paid a million dollars starting next year, but I also think the merger didn’t help. And then also my behavior didn’t help either. You know, I ruffled some feathers, with some with HR in the last couple of months I was there; I asked a couple of questions about this, plus other things. So I think there are 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. I don’t know.”
On what he would’ve done differently in WWE: “There’s a lot of things I probably would have done a little differently. I probably wouldn’t have talked to a lot of shit that I talked about, helped a lot. You know, but I’ll be honest, like working on the road, traveling that much, and then making bad decisions. And that’s just what happens. Bad people around, and unfortunately, when you’re on the road, sometimes it’s out of control, so that’s it, but I have no regrets. You know, you only live once, and you learn from your mistakes.”
