It’s been one of the most poorly guarded secrets in pro wrestling this year, but it now appears that indie megastar Matt Riddle is indeed heading to the WWE. After weeks of rumors and clues abound online, BodySlam.com revealed last week that sources had told them that Matt Riddle had signed a deal with the WWE and today they reported that the terms of the deal is for three years. Its assumed that Riddle will make his WWE debut at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV on August 18, 2018, the night before SummerSlam, in the ceremonial announcement reveal from the crowd. Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), which had Riddle scheduled for this past weekend’s New Heights event, actually announced his departure to the WWE during an ad on their Twitter, but it was quickly edited (most likely under pressure from the WWE or Matt Riddle himself, as WWE does not let independent sources announce signings).
Matt Riddle first gained mainstream notoriety as a competitor on UFC‘s reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, on the seventh season, winning his debut fight on the season finale against Dante Rivera in June of 2008, as a member of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson‘s team. Fighting primarily in the UFC Welterweight Division, Riddle went 9-3 in his 5-year career in the UFC, although two of his wins were overturned after testing positive for marijuana use (leaving him with a 7-3 record, with two No Contests). He was released by the UFC following the second failed test, and fought only one more MMA fight, a second round submission victory over Dutch fighter Michael Kuiper for Titan FC in 2014. He retired from MMA shortly after and decided to pursue a career in professional wrestling instead.
Trained at the legendary Monster Factory wrestling school out of New Jersey, Matt Riddle’s charisma that made him a star in the UFC, combined with an intuitive combat style, made him an easy pupil of pro wrestling. Within his first few months of competing in 2015, he was already working for such promotions as EVOLVE and Beyond Wrestling. By his sophomore year, he had added PROGRESS Wrestling in the UK, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), IPW:UK, and many more top indies to his itinerary, rising the ranks as one of the indie scene’s top emerging stars. A tournament specialist, he’s competed in many of the top tournaments internationally, including PWG Battle of Los Angeles (2016, 2017), Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) 16 Carat Gold in Germany (2017, 2018), CZW Best of the Best (2017), PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 (2018), and Smash Wrestling‘s The Northern (2018). It was actually PWG’s announcement of Riddle withdrawing from this year’s BOLA that confirmed to many he was heading to New York.
He also collected multiple titles around the indie world as well. He’s currently the reigning EVOLVE Champion, and is a former 2x PROGRESS Atlas Champion, WWN Champion, and PWG World Tag Team Champion alongside Jeff Cobb in The Chosen Bros. While he’s expected to debut in the audience at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV, he still has several indie dates to finish up, including select spots on the PROGRESS US tour that starts next week (he’s replacing an injured Travis Banks in Boston and New York City), as well as finishing the EVOLVE tour that runs alongside it. His final match is Friday August 17 in New York City at Joey Janela’s Lost in New York special event for Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), where he faces current indie war machine, PCO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQjl4zSpE6A&t=19s
