10 Great WWE NXT Storylines You Don't Remember
6. Matt Riddle, The Eight-Second Man
The first of two Matt Riddle items on this list comes from one of his very first matches under the NXT banner, with the barefoot ex-MMA fighter signing with WWE in 2018 after tearing up the independent scene.
Riddle's first NXT PLE match was an impromptu one, coming when he was interrupted by Kassius Ohno on the pre-show for NXT TakeOver: WarGames II. The former and future Chris Hero was challenged to a match later that night, and it didn't last long. Riddle floored a charging Ohno with a knee strike and immediately covered him for the pinfall. The official time of the match was eight seconds.
Riddle and Ohno would face off again at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix in January 2019, getting a bit more time for a match that Riddle won by submission after a bit more than nine minutes.
The Original Bro would do great things with WWE over his five-year run with the company, and some of that can be credited to the "rub" Ohno gave him right when he started. Ohno played a "gatekeeper" role here, and he did so to perfection, getting Riddle ready for bigger things without being hurt by putting the newcomer over. Sometimes, wrestling is at its best when it's simple, and that's what happened here.