Matt Riddle discusses potentially coming to AEW.
Speaking with Steven Muehlhausen for The Takedown on SI, Matt Riddle was asked to comment on why he hasn’t ended up in TNA or AEW yet. He noted that he has been getting bookings since his WWE release, and he would take any of them as long as they paid his rate.
“I got an easy answer,” Riddle explains to The Takedown. “So you’ve heard me say I got a lot of kids, right? When I got released, I started getting bookings. If you pay my rate, I don’t care if you’re a hole in the wall in the middle of nowhere. You pay my rate (and) you talk to me like a human, and I’ll accept your booking. I’m very easy to work with, regardless of what people say.”
Matt Riddle On AEW’s Schedule
Riddle went on to elaborate on his standing with AEW. He made it clear that the stress of working on TV multiple times a week was challenging for him in WWE, so that would be an obstacle if he worked with AEW. Riddle explained that he wanted a decent schedule, and he could potentially show up in AEW through their working relationships with other companies.
“With AEW, I think AEW is a fantastic product,” Riddle said. “I know a lot of the people that work there. I like the company. I like the way they work. I like the people that work there. I think with me, and it’s one of the things I’ve noticed, I’ve been relieved after getting fired from WWE. I felt that because I was on TV, and I’m such a provocative character at times, everything was magnified so much because I was on TV. The stress of working on TV two to three days a week was a lot. I like pressure. I like stress too, but it was a lot.
“The best answer would be to go to AEW, get more money, and work a decent schedule. I didn’t want to work on TV again. I didn’t want the attention for a while. I wanted to step away. I just wanted to do Indies. I know MLW works with New Japan. New Japan works a lot with AEW. Maybe you’ll see me on an AEW channel or broadcast sooner rather than later. Maybe you won’t.”
Matt Riddle On Talking To Tony Khan
Riddle then recalled talking to Tony Khan. He stated that he did not know whether Khan liked him.
“I talked to Tony,” Riddle said. “I don’t know if he likes me. He seemed happy. I wrestled Zach Sabre Jr. in Chicago. He seemed cool about it. I don’t know. When you meet me, I’m very sarcastic. But when I met him, I was like, ‘Oh, you like that match’?
“But I said it a different way, and he looked at me all confused. And I was like, ‘Never mind, dude’. I just walked away. So that was my experience with that.”
Riddle is set to compete at MLW Fightland on September 14. WrestleZone will have coverage of the show as it airs.
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