Dutch Mantell has no sympathy for Matt Riddle following his WWE release.
Riddle confirmed that he had parted ways with the company on September 22nd and thanked the company and his fans for their support.
The departure came only weeks after the former United States Champion had been involved in an incident at JFK Airport. On arriving back from India on September 9th, the Riddle was confronted by officers over disorderly behavior but was eventually released without charge.
In the aftermath of the incident, 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 a still-ongoing investigation into the events.
However, the writing was already on the wall for Riddle as he was said to already have made too many slip-ups with the company. This reportedly included a second wellness policy violation back in December.
Now, wrestling veteran Dutch Mantell has weighed in on the situation during the latest edition of his Story Time podcast.
Mantell claimed that Riddle is his own worst enemy as he was in a good position in the company but screwed it up.
“He’s his own worst enemy. They had plans for him. Now, he’s the type that had it all laid out for him. He was in a good spot, they were gonna use him, but he goes around and he gets busted for drugs.
“He was an odd case. See, instead of people getting upset over guys like Boogs and Ali, they ought to be talking about Riddle saying he had had it on, he screwed up himself. I have zero sympathy for him. I hate they got rid of him, but you got to have rules.
“I’m glad WWE kinda, again, I’m not glad he lost his job. But I am glad the WWE said, ‘Hey man, we’ve given you every chance in the book. It’s just not gonna work out. You’re more trouble than you’re worth.’ And they told him and let him go.”
Footage of Matt Riddle airport incident surfaces
TMZ has released video footage of the JFK airport incident which appears to show Matt Riddle in an intoxicated state. A witness to the events said he was “incredibly obnoxious” and “extremely loud and rude” while waiting for his delayed flight to Orlando, Florida.
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