Charismatic and entertaining inside the squared circle but increasingly problematic outside of it, former United States Champion, Matt Riddle was released by WWE yesterday.
Matt Riddle was released by WWE yesterday, capping off a group of talent cuts that followed the merger into the TKO Group.
On Friday, Matt Riddle announced his departure from WWE on X (Twitter) and thanked the public for their love and support throughout the years. The news was originally broken by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.
The King of Bros
Former professional mixed martial artist, Matt Riddle, who had previously participated in the UFC, started his professional wrestling training in 2014. Riddle earned a deal with WWE after spending four years competing on independent circuits, and in October 2018 he made his NXT debut.
Before joining the SmackDown brand in May 2020, he made his debut on WWE television in late 2019. However, in October of that same year, Riddle was drafted to RAW.
As a member of the RK-Bro team with Randy Orton, Riddle won the RAW Tag Team Championship twice during his tenure in the WWE. He also won the United States Championship once and was named Most Improved and Rookie of the Year by Wrestling Observer in 2016.
“Burned Through Too Many Chances”
According to an unnamed WWE source, as reported by Fightful, Matt Riddle had “burned through too many chances” with the company.
Riddle made headlines recently when he said that a police officer had sexually assaulted him at JFK airport. The case has been looked carefully, and according to Port Authority police, they take the claim extremely seriously.
This, however, was not the first of his issues.
After being punished a second time for failing a drug test, Riddle was removed from WWE television for the first three months of 2023. Per storylines, it was explained that Riddle was getting better from wounds sustained in a Solo Sikoa assault. He spent six weeks in rehabilitation before leaving and coming back in April.
Controversy was never far away from Riddle’s personal life, either. After a messy divorce from his first wife, Lisa Rennie, the Original Bro entered relationships with social media influencer, Daniella Petrow, and influencer and porn star, Misha Montana. Following his relationship with Petrow, she public ally accused Riddle of being a “serial abuser”, and celebrated his release on X, stating that “isn’t gonna be around to protect his A$$ anymore.” A private video of Riddle Montana, also leaked online back in July with Petrow speculating that Riddle himself had released it.
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Release Follows a Period Off Television
Due to a medical issue, reportedly a double ear infection and bronchitis, Matt Riddle missed the Monday Night RAW of September 11th. On September 18th, it was anticipated that he would appear again but this didn’t happen. Riddle had not been taken into account in any recent creative plans. This week, he continued to train and, prior to his release, he was said to be in excellent spirits.
On the September 4th edition of Raw, he and tag team partner Drew McIntyre lost to the Viking Raiders in his farewell match for the WWE. Due to WWE’s 90 day non compete provision, Riddle will be free to sign with anybody he chooses as of Thursday December 21st.
What do you think about the release of Matt Riddle? Where would you like to see him go next? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!
