Matt Riddle Wasn’t Ready To ‘Die On Hill’ Over Fighting To Keep First Name In WWE

Ever since Matt Riddle signed with WWE, he has been one of the mainstays of WWE television, be it in NXT or the main roster. His in-ring skills are one of the best in the company and he already has a good fan following. However, not everyone quite understood him at first, including Vince McMahon. Matt Riddle also doesn’t care about losing his first name in WWE either.

Matt Riddle’s character has certainly gotten over with fans thanks to his comedic timing and generally cool attitude while still being that of a stoner character. It seems that coolness is a natural part of him.

For several years, WWE always made sure to shorten the names of several Superstars which includes the Big E, Elias, Cesaro and also Riddle.

While speaking to the Battleground Podcast, Matt Riddle talked about getting his first name removed in WWE. Riddle made it clear that getting his full name isn’t necessarily something so important that he has to fight for it.

“You know, I think the problem really came in that they didn’t know they wanted to call me Matt Riddle or Matthew Riddle. Honestly, my whole life I’ve been called Riddle, you know, because there’s a lot of Matts, there’s only a couple Riddles. So every sports team I was on, every wrestling team I was on, even when I did jujitsu, or fought in the UFC people just called me Riddle.”

“So for me, it worked. I know a lot of fans were very upset about it. But I was like, people have been calling me that. It’s my last name, it’s not like it’s a fake last name. It’s still my real name.”

“Honestly, people hated it at first, but it’s catching on. Riddle’s a pretty sweet name. I’ll tell you this. There are certain battles you fight, right? You’ll fight hard and you’ll die on that hill. Losing my first name isn’t one of those hills I’m ready to die on.”

Matt Riddle and Randy Orton won the RAW Tag Team Titles at WWE SummerSlam and already had a huge celebration after that. We will have to wait and see how Team RKBro’s title reign will be booked in the coming months.

h/t to Fightful for the quotes.

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