10 Long-Term WWE Pay Offs You Should Be Excited For

2. Matt Riddle Vs The World

Matt Riddle Goldberg SummerSlam
WWE.com

Matt Riddle is a pro wrestling polymath who feels in perfect synchronisation with the current state of the industry.

He brings credible MMA pedigree as well as the flare for Sports Entertainment many in that field have shown. He brings a confidence entirely absent from a prior generation too afraid to put themselves forward during the worst excesses of Vince McMahon's monopoly. He brings his own flip-flops just to kick them off into the crowd.

For all of the above reasons and more, he feels like the perfect wrestler for modern day WWE. Unafraid of The Chairman, unafraid to go nose-to-nose with Brock Lesnar, and - as evidenced by some politically dicey remarks online - completely unafraid of the damage somebody like Bill Goldberg could do to him.

The tricky part here is assessing the endgame, but perhaps that's less relevant here. The idea of Riddle Vs Goldberg, then Riddle Vs Lesnar and frankly Riddle Vs whomever WWE wishes to feed him is so captivating and dynamic that audiences should be happy he's inadvertently crafted all these worked shoots in the first place.

'The Original Bro' is fearless and perhaps that's to a fault. But who wouldn't want to be around to watch if that proves true?

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett