Riddle Reveals Original Plans For His WWE Entrance
Those CGI birds that fly out were NOT Riddle's original plan for his WWE entrance.
"I'm birdman - let's do it!".
That was Riddle's response to WWE's creative team when they explained that Vince McMahon adored the CGI birds during his entrance. The 'Original Bro' wasn't sold on the gimmick himself, but hearing that his boss loved it was all he needed to put 100% into the plan.
Riddle did, however, tell Ryan Satin's 'Out Of Character' pod that he asked for some other CGI animals instead - the Raw Tag-Team Champ (who was United States Champion at the time) specifically requested eagles to reflect the US part of his run. WWE told him that eagles were "too big" to animate properly.
The same went for horses, which was Riddle's next idea. He thought it'd be cool to have some stallions galloping out from underneath him when he leapt into the ring and kicked off his flip-flops. Again, WWE told him that horses would be too challenging to animate.
The convo boiled down to one thing: Vince had his heart set on the doves, and nobody was going to change his mind. Riddle realised that, and decided this was not the hill to die on.