**UPDATE** – David Bixenspan has made a connection between ongoing legal issues for Matt Riddle and his recent six-week write-off from WWE television. Court documents obtained by Bixenspan point to a motion that was filed in Riddle’s divorce proceedings that lend support to yesterday’s story. The full thread of Bixenspan’s story can be read here.
Riddle’s ex-wife is trying to hold Riddle in contempt of court because a condition of his divorce is that WWE has to send her the results of his drug tests. Riddle’s tests came back as failed. As established, WWE does not test for marijuana. Having a failed drug test as part of a court hearing, and then having contempt allegations brought against Riddle lends further support to Haynes’ story.
It was announced on this past Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown that we wouldn’t be seeing Matt Riddle for the next six weeks. This was due to injuries sustained in a post-match beatdown at the hands of Solo Sikoa.
BREAKING: Due to the attack by @WWESoloSikoa on #WWERaw, @SuperKingofBros is expected to be out of action for six weeks. #SmackDown
— WWE (@WWE) December 10, 2022
But a new report from Cassidy Haynes suggests that a more serious reason could be the impetus for his absence. The attack by Sikoa is not the real reason that WWE has written Riddle off of television for the next six weeks, nor is it the first time that WWE has had to write him off television or delay plans.
Over the summer, WWE had plans for Riddle to face Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. Those plans were delayed until Clash at the Castle. At the time, the reason given was that Riddle was in line for a new creative direction.
The report suggests that the reason these plans were scrapped was because of a failed drug test. This would have been during Vince McMahon’s final days in charge. The company informed Riddle that another failed drug test would result in a “rehab or fired” condition, similar to what was done with Jeff Hardy.
This leads us to Matt Riddle’s most recent six-week television write-off. Haynes was able to confirm that the reason that WWE wrote Riddle off of TV is because he has failed another drug test and will be sent to rehab. The belief going around is that he has already entered treatment, or will be going in soon as most programs run for 30 days and he would need to be finished in time for his return in six weeks.
The report asked for clarification on what exactly came up on the failed test, but it should be noted that WWE no longer tests for marijuana.
