Former UFC welterweight and middleweight contender turned independent wrestling star Matt Riddle is not a fan of the WWE signing James Ellsworth.
Riddle, who has done work for promotions such as Evolve and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, recently did an interview with Metro to talk about his background in mixed martial arts (MMA), making the transition to wrestling, and his opinion on talents the WWE shouldn’t have signed. Check out what he had to say here below:
Making quite a successful transition from MMA to professional wrestling:
“The difference is that I’ve always been a huge fan and always wanted to get into professional wrestling. I just never thought I was big enough or that the opportunity was there. A lot of fighters think it’s going to be easier than MMA and I can tell you this right now, it’s not that the training is harder or you that have to cut weight in pro wrestling, but you have to connect with an audience.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re the best wrestler in the world and can do every move perfectly, if you don’t connect with the crowd or sell well or have good promos, nobody cares. People can see through bulls—. When people watch WWE and they hear a guy like Roman Reigns quoting Jack and the Beanstalk, they know he is not speaking from the heart. That’s why I like the indies, because I like being who I am. I get to be who I am in the ring, on the microphone, everywhere, it’s great. I never have to get out of character because I am Matthew Riddle.”
Who the WWE shouldn’t have signed:
“With wrestling, everybody always asks what they can do to get signed or how can they get over. There’s no right or wrong answers, that’s why I think the best thing you can do is be yourself. Decide which of your traits and characteristics are going to stand out to people, and take advantage of that. It’s the same with WWE because they have John Cena who is a legitimate Superman and a machine. And then they have James Ellsworth on the same payroll. So you have James Ellsworth and John Cena.
“If you look at them side by side and look at everything, one guy shouldn’t be collecting a check but he is. Nothing against Ellsworth, but if you’re looking at picture-perfect that’s what everybody should be like, everybody should be like John Cena. Jacked, a machine, get up at 5am go to bed at 2am, but that’s not how it works. And the fans can’t all connect with Superman. Some people are James Ellsworth, nothing wrong with that.”
You can check out Riddle’s full interview with Metro at this link.
