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With wrestling, I'm working all the time, I'm wrestling all the time, I'm performing all the time, and I'm making money all the time.
I want more unpredictability. I want more realism. I think the fans would appreciate that, and that's what I've brought since day one.
Growing up, my family wasn't really into sports, so we didn't really watch sports, and then one day I stumbled across the TV: pro wrestling.
I'm already a personable person. I always try to smile and get to know somebody and say hello - even when people are trying not to talk to me.
Crowds are always different, but I know I have hardcore fans who watch everything I do online, so I have to make sure every match is different.
My goal isn't just to make wrestling into a bigger show and make good money, but it's also to evolve pro wrestling to where I think it belongs.
I got into the UFC after six months of training. I started doing jiu-jitsu, had my first fight, tried out for 'The Ultimate Fighter,' and got on.
I feel like I started with wrestling, and a love of pro wrestling, that lead me to MMA and the UFC. And now it's come full circle back to pro wrestling.
Wrestling is one of the hardest things, and it has nothing to do with the extremely hard physical part of it. It has to do with the psychological part of it.
I'm about great competition. That's why I can have a great smile beforehand and connect with the crowd, and then, when I get in the ring, I flip that switch.
I have a huge amount of respect for Lesnar. You know, he's done everything since he came into it. He works hard. You don't look like Lesnar without working hard.
I love fighting, but I don't miss waiting months upon months just to fight once in front of people and then have to wait months again to fight once in front of people.
It doesn't matter if you're the best wrestler in the world and can do every move perfectly; if you don't connect with the crowd or sell well or have good promos, nobody cares.
I will be completely honest: when I fought in Manchester, they were very cruel to me. One fan actually spat directly in my face, and he was lucky enough where it hit my mouth.
I was landscaping not too long ago, so I'm extremely grateful for the people supporting me in wrestling. Not that landscaping is terrible, but I'd rather be suplexing and punching people.
If I do make WWE - because in my head, until it's official, it's not a thing - I think if they brought me in, it would be very short lived at NXT, and I'd be on main roster extremely quick.
With wrestling, everybody always asks what they can do to get signed or how can they get over. There's no right or wrong answers. That's why I think the best thing you can do is be yourself.
I was probably one of the top three or four wrestlers in the world on the indies, just killing it. Nobody really saw me going to a bigger company because of my past and just how people view me.
If you train, you work hard, you're actually 110-percent dedicated, you're doing it for all the right reasons, you're probably gonna end up on the top. You know the cream always rises to the top.
The first time I was in a ring with William Regal, I called him 'Bro,' and from there, everyone just kept saying 'Bro' to me. I kept saying 'Bro,' and before I knew it, I was deemed The King of Bros.
If you get Fight of the Night, there's a reason you got Fight of the Night: it's usually because you had that crowd on its feet, going crazy during the fight, almost like a professional wrestling match.
In my opinion, if I was going to pick main roster guys, I've always had a hunch out for Cesaro. I just feel like if we were able to just go at it, make it a fight, I think it would be pretty sensational.
That's why I like the indies: because I like being who I am. I get to be who I am in the ring, on the microphone, everywhere. It's great. I never have to get out of character because I am Matthew Riddle.
In wrestling, sports entertainment, I get to fight in front of people; I get to wrestle in front of people; I get to entertain people sometimes four times a week - all around the country, all around the world.
A lot of people don't know who they are as a wrestler. Even people that walk into the doors of the Performance Center. They might be world-class athletes or models, but they don't know who they are in the ring.
When you have a guy like me who's a former UFC fighter and who is basically a normal guy who can do exceptional things, that connects with people rather than some random Viking who can also do exceptional things.
Promoters saw the potential in me and the value in me. It was because of companies like Evolve, PWG, Progress, and Beyond Wrestling. Those are the big ones that gave me a push and made my name worth something on the indies.
I'm just tired of the unethical people, the scumbags, all that. Maybe that's how all businesses are run, but in MMA, I've been in the UFC, Legacy, and Bellator. The UFC was the best, and even they didn't treat you that well.
I'll be honest, when I first started pro wrestling, everybody else did clotheslines better than me. They did everything about pro wrestling better than me. But when it comes to fighting, getting nitty and gritty, I'm the man.
I always wanted to wrestle, but when you're a kid, how do you do pro wrestling? For me, it seemed like the easiest way for me was to get into amateur wrestling and go that route because it was a place where I was allowed to go.
There's guys like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk that incorporated mixed martial arts submissions and moves into professional wrestling. I feel like the way it was incorporated was really good, but there's not enough people doing it.
I always had watched pro wrestling. I happened to be watching the WWE Network one day and started watching differently: I wasn't watching it as a fan, but instead I was watching it as something that I could possibly be a part of.
The thing for me is - and one of the reasons I was never a fan of Goldberg in the beginning when everybody was like 'Oh, he's so good! - I was like, 'No, he's terrible, he's hurting people,' and there's nothing else. He just has three-minute matches.
Living in my parents' house is pretty sweet. It's not like they're rich or anything, but they're pretty nice to me, so it was pretty good living there, too, and all I did was jujitsu. I was just like a stallion, just living on my parents' couch. It wasn't terrible.
When I started doing pro wrestling, it wasn't the physical aspect doing the moves or taking the moves that was hard: it was interacting with the crowd, body movement, selling, getting that emotional attachment with people so they're invested in a match. That was the hard part.
When I was in the UFC, I would get tickets for a fight, and then what I would do is go in the crowds and watch the rest of the fights. A lot of times, I would end up taking pictures and signing people's books. I didn't care if I got any money or anything. I was just there enjoying my time and watching the fights.