Matt Riddle opened up about what led to his exit from WWE.
On September 22nd, Matt Riddle announced that his time with WWE was through. His exit came just weeks after a public incident at JFK airport during which Riddle was confronted by officers over disorderly behavior but was eventually released without charge. In the aftermath of the incident, Matt Riddle made a now-deleted post on social media accusing one of the officers involved of sexual assault. This led the Port Authority to launch an investigation into the event, saying they take such accusations very seriously.
According to reports, the star’s exit came after he had too many slip-ups with the company prior to his JFK airport incident. This reportedly included a second wellness policy violation back in December.
Speaking in a new interview with Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Riddle opened up about his wellness policy violations, confirming that he had two offenses.
“I had two offenses. They didn’t make any of the offenses public. I think they wanted to keep it on the hush hush, which I understand. I got fined.”
Matt Riddle Admits To Cocaine Use In WWE
Continuing, Matt Riddle elaborated on the circumstances of his wellness policy violations, admitting that both failed tests were due to cocaine use.
“You’re allowed to smoke weed. I went to the strip club and did cocaine a couple times. I failed a drug test for that. That was for all of them, it was cocaine each time. It was just a random night.
“WWE tests you randomly, any week. Sometimes, you get tested at the end of one month and the beginning of another month. There was one week where I failed bang bang, didn’t know I failed the second one and by the time I failed the first one, I got two at once. I think that’s why they were a little more lenient. ‘We tested you back-to-back, you failed both times.’ I was like, ‘I’ll show you, no more problems, test me for the next ten weeks.’ I did that, I was fine, didn’t fail one test.
“When I thought I was in the clear, went out, partied a little bit, they gave me a random test at my house, I failed that, and shortly after that, they had me go to rehab.”
When asked about being made to enter a rehabilitation program, Matt Riddle continued:
“They can’t make you do anything, but it’s ‘go or…’ ‘Okay, I’ll go.’ I went for the 30 days, I left, and when I left, they made a recommendation that they wanted me to stay for another 30 days and I was like, ‘I said I would do 30 days, I don’t want to do another 30 days.’
“I missed Christmas and New Year’s. I learned my lesson. Trust me, I don’t go out there and rage it up anymore like that. I learned my lesson. ‘No, we want you to do another 30 days.’
“I wanted to test and get my black belt, I had been waiting 10 years. I had some money because RKBro was successful, and I wanted to buy a house. I bought a house, my aunt had cancer, so I went to see her. She’s good now.
“I was like, ‘Let me do these couple of things before I leave.’ ‘Okay.’ I went, did those, then went back for another 30 days. Got out and I was just waiting. This was a month before WrestleMania. ‘We don’t have anything for you. Maybe Raw After Mania.’ I thought they were going to fire me.”
In the end, Matt Riddle did return to WWE at the Raw after WrestleMania and stayed with the company until his exit in September.
h/t Fightful