Matt Riddle reveals what he struggled with the most when he began wrestling (Exclusive)

Matt Riddle had quite the transition from MMA to pro wrestling - becoming one of the most successful superstars to make that jump. He revealed what he struggled with the most when he started wrestling.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Kevin Kellam, Matt Riddle opened up about some crazy past incidents, including a pitch for him to win the Royal Rumble match before Brock Lesnar personally shot it down.

When Kevin Kellam asked Matt Riddle about the transition from MMA to wrestling, Matt Riddle said that his realization that storytelling was an important factor left him puzzled in the early days. He added that it made things rather awkward:

​

"I'll say this - when I got into pro wrestling, I was like, 'I can hit all these moves and execute them and do them sick!' But if you're not connecting with the audience or telling a story or registering certain things and really making a connection with the audience, you're not wrestling, you're just doing moves. So I think that the hardest part for me to connect with was that. So when I started, I was like, 'I got this,' and then I just felt so awkward walking out and I didn't know what to do! Eventually, I came into my own." (1:48-2:25)

​

You can watch the full video below:

​

What is the saddest part about Matt Riddle's abrupt WWE release?

Perhaps one of the saddest things about Matt Riddle's abrupt WWE departure was the wasted storyline potential. Like some great names before him, Riddle had a tangible, objective value that WWE loved, but he turned out to be his own worst enemy in the end.

While Randy Orton was out for an extremely long time with a back injury, Riddle was seemingly making his way up the ladder as a singles superstar. He even had a hot feud with Seth Rollins, who once had real-life heat with him.

Perhaps the biggest shame of it all was the fact that the epic RK-Bro storyline had to be dropped with no notice. Riddle was doing well during Orton's 18-month break, but he was just a few months away from an inevitable reunion. It would have been easy to pick up where they left off and they seemed poised for a huge WrestleMania-caliber feud.

Only time will tell whether there's enough of a window for Riddle to return to WWE while Orton is still an active superstar.

Please credit Sportskeeda and embed the YouTube video if you use any quotes from this article.

​