Matt Riddle Calls Randy Orton His "Spirit Guide"

Matt Riddle was a guest on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, where he discussed the biggest lessons he's learned since joining the WWE's main roster.

“I’d say the biggest lessons are this is entertainment, and then, maybe don’t talk too much trash. I wouldn’t say I got in trouble, but people aren’t happy when I say certain things. And I’ll say this, it’s not old school, but there’s still a slight old school mentality on the main roster rather than many other companies or the indies, where it’s like you’ve got to watch what you say and be super respectful all the time. I try to be 100 percent of the time. Randy [Orton] even said when he first met me, he didn’t like me. And I was like, ‘I’ll be honest Randy. I heard that interview and I was sad. You never told me you didn’t like me. I thought we were cool.’ I guess he didn’t like me. And then he saw me and Stallion Pete [Dunne] tag at TakeOver, and he actually tweeted, ‘I didn’t like you or something. But I get it. Good luck.’ Even when I came up to the main roster, I guess I didn’t shake his hand. But it wasn’t like I was trying to be disrespectful, I thought he was just busy. He’s Randy Orton. I don’t want to bother him. But I guess he took that – some people take certain things as disrespect. Me, I’m trying to be the best Riddle I can be and that’s all I can do. So, I think it’s more business. I’ve learned how to handle money better and do things better in that sense and fashion. These things have all happened since my main roster debut, so I feel like I’ve learned a lot of lessons. I’ve matured a lot.”

According to Riddle, Randy Orton has helped him learn a lot of lessons.

“I don’t think it could be any better than having Randy Orton as my spirit guide in WWE. He’s awesome. He leads me down the right paths, and he’s a wealth of knowledge. And his knowledge is different than mine. I fought in MMA, I wrestled on the indies, and the style was very intense, while Randy is one of the greatest storytellers in professional wrestling history. Not that I can’t tell a story, but I feel like Randy has helped me tell better stories. And I think with me and Randy together, it’s awesome because Randy is such a serious character, so for him to drop his guard a little bit, give me some trust and some friendship, and I’m always there for him. I’m his right hand man, he’s a ‘bro for sho.’ I’m there all the way. I think because of that, it’s a dynamic we’ve never seen because usually when Randy’s pair up, it’s almost like a standoff where ‘we respect each other, but we don’t know if we even like each other.’ With me and Randy, it’s like, ‘You know I like Randy and I’ll do anything for Randy.’ And Randy, week by week, is coming along. So, I really enjoy it. I enjoy the journey we’re on, and like I said, working with Randy, being RKBro, which I remember when I said it originally, a lot of people laughed at me and said it would never happen. And then a couple of weeks later, me and Randy are wrestling. The following week, RKBro. And it got such a reaction, they just kept it going, and now we’re the WWE RAW Tag Team Champions.”