Matt Riddle and Goldberg’s supposed beef with each other has been well documented. As The Inquisitr reported earlier this year, the mouthy NXT rookie mocked the WWE Hall of Famer over his poor match against The Undertaker at the last Super ShowDown event in Saudi Arabia, calling him one of the worst wrestlers of all time.
According to Riddle, he didn’t mean to disrespect the legend, nor was he looking to set up a storyline between the two of them. As quoted by 411Mania , the rookie spoke to Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Dropkick DiSCussions podcast about a host of topics, and his outspoken criticism of the legend came up.
“With Goldberg, I was never even really wanting a match. I mean, I would take it for sure. He’s Bill Goldberg, you know? The guy is money. At the same time, I never wanted a match. It was more so my opinion on his workrate and his wrestling – not his ability to generate money or put butts in seats. It was his salary, his workrate. And I talked to Goldberg, we talked about it, he thought I was being disrespectful. I was like, ‘Okay, man, that’s my opinion. I’m just not a huge fan of your work.’”
As The Inquisitr recently documented, Goldberg approached Riddle about his criticism backstage at a WWE event. While the altercation didn’t result in any serious arguments, there hasn’t been any love lost between the pair. It remains to be seen if WWE has any interest in booking a match between them, however, as this kind of real-life rivalry always makes for the most compelling storylines.
During the interview, Riddle did show more respect for superstars he does admire. While he admitted that he didn’t want to lose to Velveteen Dream, he was grateful that his first defeat in WWE came against someone he rates highly.
He also discussed All Elite Wrestling, saying that the competition will be good for WWE and the Wednesday Night Wars will be good for the wrestling business. The rookie is of the opinion that it’s great when lots of wrestling companies are doing well, and he wants AEW to succeed. Some officials within WWE probably disagree with him.
With NXT set to move to USA Network, Riddle also believes that the brand is about to be elevated. As a result, he wants to remain there and take on some of his dream opponents, including Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa.