Thanks to Christy Olson for sending us the following:
Former UFC fighter and successful independent wrestler Matt Riddle is the special guest on Sean Waltman’s X-Pac 12360 this week, saying WWE changed their decision to sign him and offering details on WWN MMA, a new Chinese MMA company. Riddle also talks about beating Jon Jones in high school and what went wrong with his Bellator relationship.
Sean himself had some interesting comments during the show’s popular news segment, sharing that John Cena had the final say on his SmackDown Live match against Bray Wyatt this week, and recounting a backstage conversation he had with AJ Styles at the same show.
Stream it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/D91ZD-0NtsU, or download the podcast version on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/x-pac-1-2-360-afterbuzz-tv/id1150124693?mt=2&i=374822005, with highlights below.
Sean recounts a conversation he had with AJ Styles this week, backstage at SmackDown Live in Anaheim, California: He came up and he went, I was watching your show and he goes, I just wanted to tell you what you said about John Cena being the man and the best going, you’re a hundred percent correct. He goes, anyone that doesn’t agree with you, it’s because they don’t really know John Cena and have never been in the ring with him.
Sean adds: I’m not sure what the finish was supposed to be for the match last night. But I know this for a fact, that John Cena insisted on putting Bray Wyatt over again last night, insisted on it. That’s not just a rumor.
Matt Riddle on beating Jon Jones at high school wrestling: I did. Actually two different occasions. But Jon Jones, he’s grown up a little bit. I’ve grown up a little bit. I’d still like to challenge him one day, but we’ll see what happens.
Matt says after initially getting a yes from WWE, the company ultimately passed on him: I was still getting emails from Kane and stuff. So I was like, yeah. I think it was right before WrestleMania last year, they hit me up probably a couple months beforehand and they were like, hey Matt, sorry it took so long [etcetera] but we’re going to take a pass on you. They said, not forever, of course, maybe down the road. But they said, because of your past…we don’t want to take a chance. I was like alright, I completely understand.
Matt on his latest venture with WWN, an MMA promotion in China: WWN MMA. That’s right. I helped put that relationship together. We actually went over to China, talked to the government over there, talked to some government officials. We talked to like, the athletic board I would say and got some fights lined up. We’re going to be on national television in China–first time ever. Pretty big deal. We’re probably going to start doing some pro wrestling shows there that are going to be on national television as well.
Why Matt didn’t appear in Bellator after being released from UFC: I can’t actually talk about what happened but they released me from my contract…there was some ehhh in the contract and we had a disagreement and they released me. I haven’t talked to Bellator since.
Get it all on this week’s brand new episode of AfterBuzz TV’s X-Pac 12360. Two words for you…DOWNLOAD IT!
