Chris Van Vliet recently interviewed former WWE star Matt Riddle. We have some highlights below and scroll down to watch the entire interview.
Matt Riddle on the origins of Bro:
“When I started pro wrestling, I watched a lot of it. I see the greats and I was thinking, every great has a catchphrase. For me, especially in modern times, people’s focus, attention spans, are quicker than ever I feel, mine included. So I can’t be like. ‘Smell what The Rock is cooking.’ It was great for the time. If you notice right now, Daniel Bryan, ‘Yes.’ You got LA Knight, ‘Yeah.’ You got Bro. It sounds simple but bro, one, I say bro all the time, two, I’m a Super Bro, King of Bros, and then three, it’s just like, I could easily get this in a match, I get this in promos, and I know people will feel it and also I’m terrible at remembering names. So for me, it checked a lot of boxes.”
On the WWE 4:20 T-Shirt:
“It took a lot of convincing, but I’ll tell you this. They’re not mad about it. They made quite a pretty penny on it. So did I and so did Randy I would imagine. But yeah, we were trying for months and months and then 4:20 came up. If you know Randy, he doesn’t like to advertise anything. Randy does his job and that’s his job. Unless he wants to do something, he’s not gonna do it which is why Randy is so cool. So we want this 4:20 shirt. WWE hit us up on 4/19. They go, ‘Randy, Riddle, you’re gonna do an RK-Bro 4:20 shirt. We’re only going to do a limited release, one day only.’ Me and Randy text each other separately from that and we go, ‘We’re sharing the hell out of this shirt. We’re getting this over. We need this to sell.’ We wanted it. We did it. We finally got what we wanted. We need to make this happen. We got to let them know how much money there is and literally not even 16 hours into 4:20, we got a call and they’re like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna keep the shirt going. We’re just gonna keep it going.’ Even after Randy left because of his injury, they had the Bro 4:20 shirt, which sold like hotcakes and the Bro 4:20 hats and everything else.”
On having early issues with Randy Orton:
“I don’t like bothering people. If you’re in a room and I see you talking to a bunch of people jib, jab, and laughing, unless I know you well, I’m probably just gonna keep my distance because I don’t want to interrupt your little powwow and your fun.. So when I first met Randy, that’s kind of how it was. It’s COVID so we’re all like in a locker room spaced out this and that. So I guess I had a chance to say hi and I didn’t take it or what have you. I think Randy took that as disrespect.”
On why Seth Rollins didn’t like him at first:
“Well, my ex-wife said some stuff about Becky and Mandy, like kind of body shaming them and Seth assumed I was on that boat as well, which I was not. I would never body shame anybody. So then I went up to Seth to apologize for my wife’s comments and (let him know) I don’t feel that way. I wished the best of luck with Becky and his new baby that was on the way.”
On a possible WWE return:
“I’ll say this and this isn’t a knock to anybody. Good luck to everybody. If CM Punk can come back, there’s definitely a possibility I can come back. I’ll say this. I have no ill will. I really don’t. I’m thankful they gave me the opportunities they gave me. I’m super stoked on it and super happy about it. Even with the UFC, I’m not bitter. I’m grateful. I got to fight in the biggest fight organization in the world and even when Dana slammed me, it built my stardom for being like the 4:20 athlete of the year. So it’s like you can’t knock it. WWE gave you a platform, multiple WrestleManias, multiple Royal Rumbles, multiple Survivor Series, multiple everything. Sweet. Thank you. No harm. Thank you for all the money and the championships and how people and kids look at me because they got to see me on their screen.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co
