Exclusive: Reason Why Matt Riddle Was Written Off WWE TV For Six Weeks
We won’t be seeing Matt Riddle on WWE Television for six weeks, as was announced on the December 9th, 2022 episode of SmackDown. It was stated that Riddle was going to miss six weeks of action following an attack from Solo Sikoa on last week’s episode of RAW.
However, that is not the real reason that WWE has written Riddle off of television for the next six weeks, nor is it the first time that WWE has had to write him off television or delay plans.
Over the summer, WWE had originally planned for Matt Riddle to have a match at SummerSlam against Seth Rollins, but that match was pushed back to Clash at the Castle. It was reported at the time that the reason for the change was due to a new “creative direction.”
Sources have told me that the reason for pushing back the match was because Matt Riddle failed a drug test leading up to SummerSlam, this was also the last test under Vince McMahon’s regime. With Vince no longer in charge, a “new creative direction” was taken regarding Riddle, and his big match against Rollins was postponed until Clash at the Castle. Additionally, I was told that the company informed Riddle at the time that another failed drug test would result in a “rehab or fired” situation similar to what happened with Jeff Hardy previously.
This leads us to Matt Riddle’s most recent “six week” television write off. I was able to confirm that the reason that WWE wrote Riddle of TV is because he has failed another drug test and will be sent to rehab. The belief going around is that he has already entered treatment, or will be going in soon as most programs run for 30 days and he would need to be finished in time for his return in six weeks.
I asked for clarification on what exactly came up on the failed test, but it should be noted that WWE no longer tests for marijuana.
We will keep you updated if we hear anything more about Matt Riddle and his WWE status.
(Please credit Cassidy Haynes and Bodyslam.net when using this news.)
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