5 Reasons why Matt Riddle is moving to SmackDown and not RAW
The King of Bros Matt Riddle is officially set for a move to Friday Night SmackDown. It was WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle who announced on SmackDown that Riddle will be making his debut for the Blue brand.
Angle is a bit more familiar with Matt Riddle now after being the special guest referee for his match against Timothy Thatcher - the first-ever "Fight Pit" match in WWE history. Thatcher won by making Matt Riddle pass out via submission, concluding the latter's run in NXT that lasted nearly two years.
It's good that WWE chose to take their time with Matt Riddle in NXT even though he could have joined RAW or SmackDown right away without missing a beat. Now that his run in the third brand is done, it's time for a new journey - Friday Night SmackDown.
Here are a few theories as to why Riddle was chosen for SmackDown over RAW:
#5. Brock Lesnar
Since this was most probably on your mind, we'll address this first. Brock Lesnar is on Monday Night RAW and will be on the Red brand for the foreseeable future. There were rumors about a verbal confrontation he had with Matt Riddle, telling him to keep his name out of his mouth and that they'll never work together.
WWE likely considered this and didn't want the two to cross brands at any point. We can't confirm whether this is true or not, but it could be a two-way street. Maybe the entire verbal altercation was just a work and it was spread to fuel the fire of a future Riddle vs Lesnar match.
On the other hand, it could be WWE wanting to keep things safe and wanting to keep the two separately.