Matt Riddle Slams CM Punk Again in Recent TMZ Podcast

At one point, Matt Riddle was one of the most highly anticipated wrestlers on WWE’s main roster. Everyone thought that he was a future world champion. Heck, even WWE in 2021 thought that he would eventually win the WWE Championship. However, Riddle’s career ended up taking a downturn due to his own mistakes.

He worked for WWE from July 2018 to September 2023. By the end, Matt Riddle had burned all the bridges that were there in the company. While he hopes that in the future, the company would bring him back, the chances are slim for that to happen. For those who don’t know, Riddle failed multiple drug tests in WWE, which led to his suspensions. While he was preparing to return, he had a controversial incident with a police officer, which led to his WWE release. Recently, Matt Riddle gave an interview to TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast, where he talked about CM Punk.

Matt Riddle Says CM Punk Is Difficult To Work With

Riddle said that his friends in WWE have told him that Punk is a “b*tch to work with.” If it wasn’t for the money he would make the promotion, Punk wouldn’t survive in the WWE.

“I have good friends on the roster that still say he’s a b*tch to work with. If he didn’t generate the amount of money and attention that he does, he wouldn’t be there,” Riddle said. “Kudos to him, the guy packs an arena, he sells tickets, he sells merchandise… Right now, hats off to him, he’s killing it.” (H/T WrestlingNews.co)

On top of this, The Original Bro also said that Punk is no longer a good wrestler due to his frequent botches.

“I think his better days of wrestling are way behind him. That’s not a knock… I can tell you that he’s definitely not either, especially with all the botches.”

Punk is 46 years old today, and while fans agree that he’s become a bit sluggish in the ring, “The Cult of Personality” is still one of the best wrestlers in the company. He was never known for his in-ring work, but rather for working the fans with wrestling psychology and his ability to tell the perfect story.

Matt Riddle Has Taken Shots At CM Punk Before

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Now, some fans might be getting déjà vu with this one. But that’s only because this isn’t the first time Riddle has criticized Punk. During a past interview in June, Riddle said the same thing (just using different words) when sharing his feelings about Punk.

This is a quote from his interview with Going Ringside:

“They’re still rebuilding. You know, I’m not a big fan of that guy either. That guy sucks at fighting and he’s a bitch to work with in the back. (why?) Because he just belly aches and complains. This guy complains about getting multiple world title runs. I’ve heard from my boys that still work there (WWE) that he is a headache, and this isn’t a storyline, this is the facts. So, this is what it is.” (H/T Fightful)

Interestingly enough, for all the criticism Riddle has given to Punk, they’ve never worked with each other. They weren’t even in the same company at any point in their lives. It’s true that Punk did have a bad reputation behind the scenes, especially during his time in AEW (who’ve got their problems because of the WWE-TNA partnership), but he hasn’t gotten into another controversy since his WWE return.

Main image credit: IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire