WWE Issues Statement On Matt Riddle Sexual Abuse Claims

Will Riddle's SmackDown debut still go ahead as planned?

by Andrew Pollard
Matt Riddle SmackDown
WWE.com

Earlier today, WWE superstar Matt Riddle became the latest professional wrestler to be accused of sexual abuse.

In these claims, Candy Cartwright alleged that Riddle choked her and threatened to make her have sex with him back in May 2018. Cartwright claims that she performed oral sex on Riddle in order to “get out of having intercourse with him.”

WWE has now moved to make a public statement on these claims, releasing the exact same “We take any allegation of this nature very seriously and are looking into he matter” line that they put out earlier in the day when allegations were made against Jordan Devlin.

Riddle had been due to make his SmackDown debut on tonight’s outing for WWE’s blue brand, although any mention of Riddle have been pulled from the preview for tonight’s SmackDown – with this throwing up questions as to whether WWE has opted to pull Riddle’s already-taped SmackDown bow.

This has been a dark few days for the wrestling business, with so many brave people coming forward to share their own personal stories of abuse suffered at the hands of an ever-increasing amount of wrestling names.

For those who have endured such horrendous abuse, the wrestling community as a whole is showing great support and love. And for those who have carried out any of these awful acts, we can all only hope that the relevant repercussions occur.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.