As he reestablishes himself outside the company, Matt Riddle is addressing some things that happened toward the end of his run with WWE.
Riddle will wrestle at MLW Intimidation Games tomorrow night (Feb. 29) in New York City, defending his newly won New Japan Pro-Wrestling Television title against Bad Dude Tito. First, he stopped by The MMA Hour to talk with Ariel Helwani — a conversation that included an incident at JFK Airport from last September where Riddle used social media to accuse of a police officer of sexually assaulting him.
He began by covering the portion that was caught on film where he uses the airline counter microphone to joke about the delays his flight was experiencing:
“What happened there, we had a tour in India, it was a one day tour. We flew to India and then flew back from India — right back and forth. I think we got there, we landed, we had a couple hours at the hotel, went to the venue, did the show, then flew back to the States. And on the way back, you know when you fly you feel some pressure and stuff like that. I thought it was just air pressure. I had a really bad ear infection.
“And then, of course, you add a couple of cocktails on top of that. Then, you know, grab the mic, I’m talking some crap. Flights were delayed. It was just a perfect storm. But at the same time, I feel a lot of people would beat themselves up. At the same time, I look at it, I think it was a sign. I was overworking myself, maybe I hopped back into things a little too quick. Doing like a four day tour and going to India for a day and back, it took its toll on me. And I think those kind of things kind of thing took a toll on me.”
Regarding the sexual assault allegation, Riddle was “not gonna go too much into detail with that incident”, but did say:
“I talked to internal affairs, I talked to the FBI. I’m not in trouble, I can assure you that. I’m not going to go into details with the situation because they asked me not to, unless I want to press charges, and I didn’t want to press charges. But that’s how that situation was handled.”
He does take some ownership of the situation, saying:
“But at the same time, if I wouldn’t have had a couple of drinks, I wouldn’t have put myself in that situation, and I wouldn’t have been there. So at the end of the day, I put myself in the situation that I knew I could have possibly gotten into trouble.”
Riddle goes on to discuss how that may or may not have factored into his WWE release, which happened later the same month:
“I don’t think that’s the reason why I got fired, but I don’t think it helped — especially with the UFC merging. And I was gonna probably be making, well, it was written in my contract that I was going to make a million dollars this upcoming year guaranteed, which was a lot more than I was making last year and a lot more than I was making the year before that. So I think there was multiple variables that played into my departure. Plus… I failed a couple of drug tests. You know, the writing, for me at least, the writing was on the wall. I’m very good in the ring, I’m entertaining, but especially with WWE and just how they want to be perceived, I don’t think I was a good fit — at least at the time.”
Regarding the failed drug tests, Riddle says they weren’t publicized as the company wanted to keep them “hush hush”. WWE incorporated his use of marijuana into his on-screen presentation, but Riddle explained the positive tests were both for cocaine:
“You’re allowed to smoke weed. I went to the strip club and did cocaine a couple times. I failed a drug test for that… That was for all of them, it was cocaine each time. But it was honestly just random nights. And the first drug test I took, WWE tests you randomly, say any week. But sometimes you get tested at the end of one month and the beginning of another month. So there was one week where I failed bang bang, didn’t know I failed the second one and by the time I failed the first one, I got two right at once. So I think that’s why they were a little more lenient with me. ‘We tested you back-to-back, you failed both times.’
“I was like, ‘Okay guys, I’m gonna show you, no more problems. Hey, you guys can test me for the next ten weeks.’ And I did that, I was fine, didn’t fail one test, didn’t do anything. When I thought I was in the clear, went out and partied a little bit, they gave me a random test at my house, I failed that, and shortly after that, they had me go to rehab.”
Reports from the end of 2022 indicated Riddle was in a treatment program. He further confirmed that with Helwani, explaining that he was in rehab for 30 days and was asked/told (“They [WWE] can’t make you do anything, but at the same time it’s ‘go or…’”) to do another 30 days, which he agreed to do after taking some time to handle a few personal issues. Now he says he’s learned his lesson and doesn’t “go out and rage it up any more like that.”
You can watch Riddle’s entire appearance on The MMA Hour here.
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