Matt Riddle says today’s wrestlers aren’t soft, they’re ‘more intelligent’

Undertaker recently caused a stir by telling Joe Rogan that today’s WWE product is soft. He expressed nostalgia for a time “when men were men.” Undertaker preferred a locker room that was filled with “crusty fucking men” rather than wrestlers playing video games and trying to look pretty.

Matt Riddle was recently asked by ViBe & Wrestling about Undertaker’s comments, and he didn’t hold back in calling nonsense on the idea that today’s wrestlers are soft:

“I will tell Undertaker and anybody else, times have changed. The human race and everyone is evolving. And yes, we do not carry knives and guns to work. We actually have metal detectors and things to keep us safe, so people don’t do that. We have a wellness policy where we’re all being tested regularly so we’re safe, and we’re in our right state of minds...”

“...mind you, I’m a former professional UFC fighter that [has] broken people’s jaws in a steel cage, something that wasn’t around when he was a young man. And I bet if it was, he still wouldn’t have stepped up, because it takes a different breed. So that’s that, and he shouldn’t say certain things when he knows there’s an up and coming roster of real savages, not pretend ones. So he should watch out. You know?

But I still respect him. I think he was just a little overzealous. And I don’t think he meant any ill will or anything mean. I just think he thought his time was tougher. And I will say this, when he worked, times were tougher. They weren’t as smart either, and they were dumber. So they abused certain things, they abused their bodies, and they’re all paying the price for it.

Today’s wrestler, we’re smarter. We work smarter. Even if you think we’re taking more bumps, we still don’t work the same schedule you’re working. And you can say we’re softer for that, but I would say we’re just smarter, more educated, just like the modern day athlete. Notice more modern day athletes aren’t getting hurt as much...we train smarter, we eat healthier, we do things better. And it’s because people in the past have made so many mistakes that we’ve learned from them, and now we don’t make those same mistakes anymore.

So Undertaker says soft. I don’t think we’re soft. I think we’re more intelligent. And that’s why we don’t get hurt, and we don’t put ourselves in stupid situations, like bringing guns to work...We have evolved, we have better etiquette in the locker room, and we don’t do certain things like that anymore. We do things right.”

Riddle’s main point is that today’s wrestlers have learned from the mistakes of the past. That doesn’t make them soft, it makes them more intelligent.

Do you agree?