Former WWE and UFC star compares Dana White to Vince McMahon
Former WWE and UFC star Matt Riddle is one of the few athletes who have had the chance to work for both Vince McMahon and Dana White. The veteran has just compared his former bosses, and the assessment is interesting.
Riddle started with UFC in 2008 on The Ultimate Fighter 7. His 10th and 12th UFC fights were wins overturned to no contests due to positive drug tests for marijuana. Both came within a year, so UFC was forced to release Riddle. He had brief stints with Bellator and Titan FC but only fought once, which was also a win. He left MMA with a record of eight wins, three losses, and two no contests, but would've gone 10-3 if it weren't for the failed tests.
Riddle began training for pro wrestling in October 2014. He debuted at the Monster Factory five months later and found success in the indies with title wins in EVOLVE, WWN, PWG, and others. WWE signed the grappler in July 2018, and he worked on NXT and the main roster until being released last September amid controversy. He is a former NXT Tag Team Champion, RAW Tag Team Champion, and United States Champion.
The former RK-Bro member recently appeared for Signed By Superstars and was asked about working for McMahon and White, now co-workers in TKO Group Holdings, after Endeavor merged WWE and UFC last year.
"When Vince has a story he tells the story. It doesn't matter what anybody says online, it doesn't matter what people say in the back, that's his story that's how he's going to run his ship, that's how it's done. You might like it, you might hate it, that's the point," he said.
Riddle continued:
"Dana White is the same way. He has his business, he wants it run a certain way, he's not going to say like a lot of the boxing they have random fights that shouldn't even be happening but they draw a little bit, Dana won't do it." [H/T to WrestlingInc]
Riddle's last WWE match came on the September 4 edition of RAW as The Viking Raiders defeated him and Drew McIntyre in a Tornado Tag match. His last singles match was a loss to Ludwig Kaiser on July 31.
Matt Riddle's post-WWE plans revealed
After being released by WWE on September 22, Matt Riddle was ready to move forward with his pro wrestling career, but he was forced to wait until the standard 90-day non-compete clause expired.
It was announced on December 21 that Riddle would return to Major League Wrestling to kick off the new year. In his first MLW appearance since April 2018, Riddle defeated Jacob Fatu to headline the Kings of Colosseum event on January 6 in Philadelphia. He worked the MLW Reload tapings that night, teaming with Alex Kane for a win over Tom Lawlor and Josh Bishop.
While Riddle has signed with MLW, he's also working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The former WWE NXT Tag Team Champion made his first official NJPW appearance on January 5 at New Year Dash!! via a pre-taped vignette to challenge NJPW World Television Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi.
NJPW has since announced two big matches for the former WWE United States Champion. Riddle will team up with a mystery partner to face TMDK's Zack Sabre Jr. and Bad Dude Tito on January 13 at Battle In the Valley from San Jose. He will then challenge Tanahashi for the title on February 23 during Night 1 of The New Beginning in Sapporo.
Riddle made interesting comments this week when asked about possibly going to AEW or TNA, and his unfinished business with Randy Orton. He also revealed a backstage story on Jeff Hardy.
Where do you see Riddle in five years if he continues to wrestle, and do you think WWE will have him back? Sound off in the comments section below!