Love him or hate him, you can’s say Matt Riddle keep secrets or hide his feelings.
Just like he’s been an open book about his opinions on and dealings with Goldberg, the new SmackDown Superstar has provided the details of his January run-in with Brock Lesnar backstage at Royal Rumble in Houston.
He shared the whole story with talkSPORT’s Alex McCarthy (the same person who first reported on their January “meeting”).
“I’ll tell you this: for weeks leading up to the Royal Rumble, they were like ‘Oh, you might be in it, you might be in it,’ but nothing guaranteed. Nobody was guaranteed anything. So after the TakeOver [Worlds Collide] they were like ‘OK, you’re going to the Rumble.’
“They didn’t say you’re going to be in the Rumble yet. So even now, am I just here? Am I doing anything? Because they brought other people too backstage that weren’t doing anything.
“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 [with his arm over his shoulder]. 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.”
In case it’s not clear, Heyman’s “security guard” is his client, Bah... you know the rest.
Anyway, as he has in other interviews, Riddle goes on to say that he knows he might have blown his shot at a match with Lesnar (let alone retiring him). But he plans to keep working his butt off to make Brock reconsider.
Good luck, Bro. A lot of us are pulling for you.