Matt Riddle: I Belonged In WWE Three-And-A-Half Years Ago

Matt Riddle discusses his time at the Performance Center.

Prior to joining NXT over the summer, Matt Riddle became one of the biggest stars on the Indie scene with his standout matches and laid back personality. Riddle left MMA in 2014 to pursue a career in wrestling. He took part in a WWE tryout in 2015, which led to him to being booked on EVOLVE and other WWE-partnered promotions like PROGRESS. After three years of traveling the country and further building up his name, Riddle signed with WWE/NXT in August. He has wasted no time making an impact in NXT. The King of Bros recently scored the fastest victory in NXT history when he dispatched of Kassius Ohno in just six seconds at NXT TakeOver: WarGames II.

Speaking to ESPN, Riddle discussed his early training in wrestling.

“When I first started, I lived in Vegas, because I was fighting in the UFC and I was still fighting after the UFC,” Riddle recalled. “When I started training, there was only one [pro wrestling] gym [in Vegas], so I moved out to Pennsylvania. There were a lot of gyms, so I could get a lot of different looks… I started training at the Monster Factory, started training at CZW’s dojo, and I started training at the Ring of Honor dojo.”

Riddle continued, discussing his move to Florida and now training at the Performance Center. “I moved my family down here, I’ve got three kids and a wife, so it’s nice. I just wrestle in Florida every weekend. We occasionally do tours or TakeOvers, but for the most part, now I get to spend more time with my family. I’m more local, and it’s great. The training here is top-notch,” Riddle said. “Where I was, I was lucky to even train three times a week, because my schedule was so insane — and I didn’t have the coaches or amenities to do [much more than that]. ” just feel like I belong here. I felt like I belonged here three-and-a-half years ago when I had my first try out.”

Riddle was not signed by WWE in 2015 due to, as Triple H put it, “maturity issues,” alluding to Riddle’s marijuana use. Riddle failed two drug tests in the UFC for marijuana and was released from the company as a result.

In the video above, you can listen to Riddle talk to Fightful about his first meeting with Triple H.