During an appearance on Peter Rosenberg’s Cheap Heat podcast, Matt Riddle talked about how his past trash talking led to heat with wrestlers such as Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg:
“I’m trying not to talk too much trash anymore. I don’t want to upset the higher ups. I’m not going to mention exact names, but he’s a chief of tribes. I said something about him recently. I’m not saying specific names. It could be anybody. He wasn’t happy. I talked some trash about me moving the needle and selling merch. He didn’t like what I said. I thought it was hilarious, but not everybody thinks like me.
Then Brock, I still want the match with Brock, but I promised him I wouldn’t call him out anymore. He asked me not to a couple years ago at a Royal Rumble, so I respect your wishes Mr. Beast. I won’t call you out. I will say this. Bill Goldberg. I’ll be honest. I think I’ve grown on the guy. I think he’s grown on me a little. I think that match could probably happen. We both went to Saudi, we were both on the same airplane, and we bumped into each other quite a few times on that airplane. I think we can get that match. I think we can pull that one off. No promises, but I’m hoping in 2022 we get Riddle vs Goldberg. It will sell tickets. Out of those matchups, I see that one happening the most.”
Riddle pointed out that this is the way he’s always been and not something he did once he joined WWE.
“Dude, you know what the craziest part is? I get this all the time. I try to explain this when they say, ‘How are you like this with the way you talk?’ I swear I’ve talked like this ever since I was a kid. I just talk really slow. I feel like my words are all drawn out. Trust me, I try to talk fast sometimes and it still sounds like I’m talking slow. My daughter, I think she’s been to California once. She was born in Nevada. She looks just like me, talks just like me, and acts just like me. I think it’s just a genetic thing. It has nothing to do with where you’re from. I was born in Pennsylvania, raised in Upstate New York, and look like and talk like I’m from California. I’ll say this. I don’t think people should just stereotype me because I have long hair, skateboard, surf, ride dirt bikes, and wrestle. It doesn’t mean I’m from California.”
Riddle also commented on how he came up with the idea for RK-Bro:
“I mentioned it about a month or so before it actually happened. I mentioned it to some of the writers and some of the boys in the back. They all proceeded to laugh at me when I said, ‘How cool would RK-Bro be?’ Most of the things I do, I try to talk to the writing team and I try to talk to the camera crew. I try to talk to everybody and have fun with everybody. I noticed by doing that, my coworkers learn my mannerisms, they learn how I talk, my dialect I guess. They can do things better for me. RK-Bro, I brought it up, wishful thinking and it got laughed at. I was like, oh that will never happen. A couple weeks later, Randy didn’t have an opponent and I didn’t have an opponent, and we made it happen.”
