Matt Riddle spoke with Sports Illustrated for a new interview, where he discussed the possibility of going to AEW. He met AEW President Tony Khan at the New Japan Windy City Riot show in April.
“I talked to Tony,” Riddle said. “I don’t know if he likes me. He seemed happy. I wrestled Zach Sabre Jr. in Chicago. He seemed cool about it. I don’t know. When you meet me, I’m very sarcastic. But when I met him, I was like, ‘Oh, you like that match’? But I said it a different way, and he looked at me all confused. And I was like, ‘Never mind, dude’. I just walked away. So that was my experience with that.”
“With AEW, I think AEW is a fantastic product, Riddle admits. “I know a lot of the people that work there. I like the company. I like the way they work. I like the people that work there. I think with me, and it’s one of the things I’ve noticed, I’ve been relieved after getting fired from WWE. I felt that because I was on TV, and I’m such a provocative character at times, everything was magnified so much because I was on TV. The stress of working on TV two to three days a week was a lot. I like pressure. I like stress too, but it was a lot. The best answer would be to go to AEW, get more money, and work a decent schedule. I didn’t want to work on TV again. I didn’t want the attention for a while. I wanted to step away. I just wanted to do Indies.”
According to Fightful Select, Khan hasn’t shown any interest in bringing Riddle to AEW, especially in recent years. It was noted that AEW wrestlers rarely work with Riddle on the indie scene, and when they do, it’s usually in Mexico.
Meanwhile, TNA sources are hoping to get Riddle to make an appearance since he doesn’t have contracts with MLW or NJPW.
