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Former WWE NXT Tag Team Champion Matt Riddle will soon be debuting for WWE's Smackdown brand, PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources. There have been plans to move Riddle to the blue brand since before Wrestlemania 36 but they had been on pause coming out of that PPV. Talk of the plans finally going into effect started making the rounds several weeks ago.
Riddle will soon be completing his run with the NXT brand. He is slated to face Timothy Thatcher in a Cage Fight this Wednesday with Kurt Angle as the guest referee. Whether that ends up his farewell appearance remains to be seen.
Back in October 2019, Riddle discussed the unique bond he has with wrestling fans during an interview with PWInsider.com at the WWE Performance Center, noting, "think the connection was made and it was organic just because they know my story. I know a lot of people like you, they might not know. But if one fan knows, he's probably going to tell another fan and another fan, and I think people can relate to me. I think a lot of people have had an opportunity or break and something went wrong or they made a mistake and that's it for them. And there's never a rebound, there's never a comeback, there's never anything. So I think for me, that part of my story is motivating and people like that. Plus, like you said, I'm the kind of guy that would go in the crowd, hang out with everybody. I'm extremely friendly with people and I also think I'm pretty good at pro wrestling so I think all those things help out."
Riddle came to pro wrestling from UFC and quickly took to pro wrestling once he began training at the Monster Factory in New Jersey. When asked why he was able to adapt into a pro wrestling environment so well last year, Riddle told PWInsider, "I think because I really enjoy pro-wrestling, always have as a kid. And then when I was older, and I was getting tired of MMA, just tired of the cutting way and everything else that was involved with it. And I was watching the WWE Network, and I was like, “You know what? I've always wanted to do this” and then just listen to the legends talk. And then there's just everything. I was like, you know what? I want to do this. I started training, and it's just something that I always wanted to do, and I felt like my life was coming full circle when I started. I felt like amateur wrestling, pro wrestling, amateur wrestling, jujitsu, MMA, back to pro wrestling. And I feel like it's the most, you can do any move in pro wrestling. It's not, hey, if you look at it like amateur wrestling, there's moves that you can't do. Jujitsu, you can't punch people and then maybe you could almost do everything, but everything's not going to work. Pro Wrestling, now you can do every move and everything can work, maybe."
Riddle will soon be doing "every move" on Fridays.
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