"He was never a contender, let alone a champion" - RAW announcer compares Riddle's career in WWE and UFC
RAW Announcer Jimmy Smith recently spoke about the longevity of superstars such as Riddle in WWE as opposed to MMA.
Smith made a name for himself as the host of Discovery Channel's Fight Quest. The 44-year-old also had stints with Bellator and the UFC as a commentator. He joined the RAW announcement team in May 2021 as the play-by-play announcer alongside Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.
Speaking on The Universal Wrestling Podcast this week, Smith mentioned that more superstars preferred pro wrestling over MMA due to the sheer longevity in sports entertainment.
He spoke in detail about The Original Bro making a case that he is a top star in WWE but did not reach that upper echelon during his time in martial arts. He stated that the former RAW Tag Team Champion was tough and competitive, but he was far from being a champion or even a number one contender in the UFC.
"There is longevity. What it requires from you is very different than MMA. You know, Matt Riddle, he's at the top of the WWE. He was never at the top of MMA. He was competitive for sure, but he was never a contender, let alone a champion," Smith said. [From 8:33 - 8:54]
You can watch the full video here:
Riddle shared a heartfelt message for Randy Orton on WWE RAW
One half of RK-Bro opened this week's show with a grim message that his partner Randy Orton was nursing a bad back. He mentioned that while the two were having a great time teaming up, The Viper was dealing with a back injury.
The former RAW Tag Team Champion also took shots at Roman Reigns. He mentioned that Reigns was a "Tribal Piece of Trash" for interfering in the title unification match that led to RK-Bro losing the tag titles. He vowed to take revenge on the Bloodline before competing in a six-man tag team match with the Street Profits against Sami Zayn and The Usos.
"That guy is nothing but a Tribal Piece of Trash!"
@SuperKingofBros #WWERaw https://t.co/GeNvKKBtom
While Riddle has much bigger problems at hand, it will be interesting to see if The Original Bro has anything to say about Smith's comments in the weeks to come on Monday Night RAW.
While using the quotes from this article, please credit The Universal Wrestling Podcast and add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling.