Matt Riddle Is Fighting Baseball Mascots And Feuding With WCW Superstars

Matt Riddle, NXT Superstar and undisputed King of Bros, doesn’t have a match at next weekend’s NXT TakeOver Toronto II, but he’s finding plenty of ways to keep himself occupied in the meantime. He’s currently feuding with Killian Dane on the show, with a match to come this week, but he’s also picking fights outside of NXT. The former MMA fighter, who joined NXT last October, has a reputation for being irreverent and occasionally silly, which gets him mixed reactions among people who take wrestling Very Seriously, but is mostly just endearing to the rest of us.

For example, this weekend Matt Riddle threw out the first pitch at a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game, and when the Rays’ mascot Raymond apparently mocked Riddle’s throw, he crossbodied the big fuzzy guy and pinned him for a self-administered three-count.

But that’s not what has wrestling old-timers mad at Riddle. Matt had previously disparaged Bill Goldberg for his wrestling ability (which I thought we all agreed isn’t great, but I guess you’re not supposed to say it out loud if you’re in the business), which led to someone condescendingly sending Matt an excerpt from Chris Jericho’s book, and then Jericho himself quote-tweeted the whole thing:

Riddle was unimpressed.

Other WCW alumni including Lance Storm and Booker T have previously criticized Riddle, and he’s come to define it as an ongoing feud between himself and the WCW roster. Here’s his latest video, posted today, which I’m sure will cause everyone to calm down.

In all seriousness, if wrestling is going to be treated like a legit entertainment business, rather than some kind of arcane carny cult affair, it may be time to accept that young stars aren’t required to treat their elders like gods, especially when they’re building reputations out of being brash and braggadocious about their own abilities, something most of those elders did in their own time.