Shane McMahon thanked Matt Riddle for not punching Goldberg

Matt Riddle was interviewed on WWE’s The Bump this week. He was asked about where things stand between him and Goldberg after their very awkward and tense confrontation backstage at SummerSlam last year.

Here is how Riddle described the situation with Goldberg:

“It’s just two different mindsets when you get into this business. Even when it came to mixed martial arts, I like to grind. I’m a hard worker. I was known for my conditioning and cardio. I like to push a pace. I expect a lot from myself, and I expect a lot from my peers. Me and Goldberg, in that sense, just didn’t see eye-to-eye. I think we had a different opinion on work. It was an opinion. He doesn’t want to be my bro, I completely understand. Didn’t really want to be his bro, you know? That’s just how the cookie crumbled that day.”

It’s really easy to read those words as an implication that Goldberg doesn’t work hard. At the very least, it’s a point of view that clearly stems from Goldberg’s ultra-short match times that don’t require Riddle’s level of cardio. You know things are bad between these guys when even Riddle admits that he never wanted to be Goldberg’s bro.

Matt went on to explain how Shane McMahon reacted to the confrontation:

“After that, Shane McMahon was watching from down the hall like, ‘Oh no! These guys are gonna fight!’ And then afterward Shane was like, ‘Hey, thanks for not swinging on Goldberg.’ I was like, what do you expect? Could you imagine? Matt Riddle punches Goldberg unconscious in the back? I can’t do that. That is not a stallion move. You sign a contract. You get a fight. You get a match set up, and then you beat him in front of millions of people. That’s a stallion move.”

I love this guy. He knows he’s a star, he knows he’ll make big money in pro wrestling whether that’s in WWE or somewhere else, and so he’s not afraid to shoot for the moon. Matt Riddle is not some boring cookie cutter WWE template of a superstar who is walking on eggshells backstage, that’s for sure.

Riddle will continue doing what he thinks is best for his business and making these stallion moves. And if he continues to rub people the wrong way while doing so, at least we know that he’ll never punch those people unconscious in the back.

Bro.