Former UFC fighter turned pro wrestler Matt Riddle recently spoke with Martin Hines of of Metro.co.uk about the possibility of wrestling for WWE one day. Riddle has become a cult favorite on the independent scene and is widely considered one of the top free agents in the world. Riddle says he’d really like to work for WWE one day, but he’s got some concerns about how that would actually play out.
Riddle said that once you work for WWE, you’re somewhat limited. He used an example of the movie business. If you make an independent movie, you hire the actors, the crew, it’s lower budget but you’re in control. When you go to a big studio, they give you more money but they have creative input and there’s a lot of strings attached.
“Something I love about indies is that I get to tell my story,” Riddle said. “There might be a different outcome, but before, during and after the match I tell the story my way.”
He cited AJ Styles and Kevin Owens as wrestlers who did such great work on the independent scene that WWE would have been crazy to not feature them.
“I’d really like to go to WWE and be one of the main guys, get right to the main roster and have a push right away,” he added.
Does this mean he’s not interested in wrestling for NXT? “I wouldn’t even mind having to go to NXT but it’d have to be that I’m fighting for the title right away. And it makes sense. I’m a former UFC fighter killing it on the indies and I’m a stud.”
Other topics discussed include his popularity in the UK, being part of Team SPLX, his UFC departure and UFC President Dana White being “extremely” disrespectful to him. Head over to Metro.co.uk to check out the full interview.
