Matt Riddle's main roster call-up reportedly led to NXT nixing Tag Team Title plans
Ever since the news of his arrival on SmackDown broke last week, fans have been waiting for Matt Riddle to make his first appearance as an official part of the Blue brand. The Original Bro's NXT send-off came last week in the form of a brutal Pit Fight.
Riddle was defeated by Timothy Thatcher in what was supposed to be his final appearance on the Black and Gold brand as a member of its roster.
Even though Riddle is expected to receive a major push on SmackDown, it turns out that his call-up hasn't been in the works for as long as you may think. Moreover, it is being reported that his NXT departure caused the brand to rework a number of plans it had in place initially. These plans reportedly involved various wrestlers.
Matt Riddle's team with Pete Dunne was originally supposed to last longer than it did
As revealed by Fightful Select in its recent report, Matt Riddle's SmackDown call-up "sent shockwaves through multiple brands". Matt Riddle was paired with Pete Dunne in this year's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament.
Initially, fans were doubtful about this pairing since the two Superstars had totally different on-screen personas.
However, their surprisingly entertaining chemistry (both in the ring as well as outside) convinced the fans to buy into the duo being a credible tag team.
Riddle and Dunne ended up winning the tournament and then captured the NXT Tag Team Championship from The Undisputed Era's Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly. Their team was named, "BroserWeights".
The alliance between the two was short-lived since the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting travel ban rendered Dunne unable to travel to the US for the TV tapings. At first, WWE didn't phase out the former NXT UK Champion from the ongoing storylines.
In fact, the aforementioned report states that WWE brought in the Malcolm Bivens-managed Indus Sher to feud with Riddle and Dunne for the NXT tag team titles in the first place.
However, as the future became more uncertain, it was decided that Riddle would drop the titles. The management deemed the Indus Sher not ready to carry the tag team division on their back right away. So, the BroserWeights/Indus Sher feud was nixed.
For his final few outings as the Tag Team Champion, "The Original Bro" joined forces with NXT newcomer Timothy Thatcher. The two, after a brief run as a team, lost the titles to Imperium members Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel and disbanded right away.
What are the current plans for Pete Dunne?
While Matt Riddle is making waves all over the wrestling world for his upcoming SmackDown debut, the fate of his former tag team partner remains up in the air. Fightful Select's report mentioned that Superstars who are stuck overseas aren't being factored into any short-term plans.
This would include Pete Dunne and Jordan Devlin (who is supposed to feud with the interim Cruiserweight Champion upon his return to NXT).
Even though The Bruiserweight can't travel to the States for the foreseeable future, he can be involved with the NXT UK brand for the time being, once its tapings resume.