Matt Riddle recently did an interview with TalkSport.com and discussed his Royal Rumble appearance and a potential encounter with Brock Lesnar. Here are the highlights.
“Eventually, I find out I’m going to be in the Rumble. Now I’m stoked! I’m like ‘what if I get my chance!’ [with Brock Lesnar]. I don’t even know if I should say his name [laughs]. But what if I get my chance? And now I’m starting to play the scenarios in my head and, of course, ‘what if I do this’ but then also, this isn’t just about me, there’s 29 other people. So I was just like if I can get anything, I’ll be extremely happy.”
“Then, of course, [Paul] Heyman and his security guard – I won’t mention his name [laughs] – him and his security guard come up to me and basically told me I had no chance in hell – it was very Vince McMahon like [laughs] – no chance in hell that I was going to get that match with him and I’d have better luck doing something else. And I’ll be honest, at first, I was just like awww [disappointed], I got this far and you’re literally holding me like this [tightly]. Like, he’s holding me like we’re friends but we’re not. And then he [Lesnar] tells me ‘it’s never going to happen.’”
“So, I wasn’t mad, I wasn’t sad, I was more just heartbroken. But it’s like when a girl turns you down on a date; hey, it doesn’t mean give up completely. It’s like OK, let’s go back to the drawing board, maybe I came on a little too strong this time. Maybe I’ll try something different to convince him, ya know? So that’s how that scenario played out. Then I got to the Rumble, got to play with Edge, kick Corbin, kicked now, reigning heavyweight champion, Drew McIntyre. The pop was pretty beautiful too, but the pop if I had of gotten in the ring slightly earlier [when Brock was in] – ahhhh! I’m pretty sure the crowd would have been like ‘oh my god! He’s going to get his chance!’ But hey, still a pretty good pop.”
“How do I get these matches? Well, I’m on SmackDown now, all I have to do is keep getting more and more valuable -and it seems that’s what happening – and eventually these guys are going to be like ‘Oh, I want another paycheck,’ and they’ll have to go through me to get it. That’s my goal. That’s what I’m going to do. I haven’t been calling out for the matches lately because there’s no point. These guys only really work off one thing and it’s money, so how can I get that? I got to be worth more to them. I got to become valuable enough to get them in the ring with me. So, that’s what I’ll do then.”
