One of the strangest backstage feuds in WWE from recent years has seen Matt Riddle clashing with Goldberg.
This is despite the fact that the two men have never set foot inside the ring together. They have had heat backstage even before Riddle set foot into the ring with Goldberg.
Their rivalry stems back to the match between Goldberg and The Undertaker from the WWE Super Showdown event in Saudi Arabia.
The match is legendary for being one of the worst matches of all time. Despite being a dream match, it stunk out the arena and made both men look terrible.
Goldberg entered the ring, already concussed and covered in blood. To hype himself up backstage, he headbutted a locker and cut his head.
This was really stupid, and made the match even worse. Riddle referenced this, live Tweeting the show, and said in a now-deleted Tweet;
“Awesome job bro, you’re already bleeding and the match hasn’t even started.”
The match was terrible and dangerous. Goldberg was in no state to compete, dropping The Undertaker on his head on multiple occasions and nearly killing him.
Riddle made a video (that has now also been deleted) where he calls Goldberg, “the worst wrestler in the business.” which after seeing that match, is hard to disagree with.
Matt Riddle revealed, in an interview with Talksport, that he and Goldberg seemed to have quashed their beef in recent years.
He spoke about how his entire gimmick involves talking trash and backing it up in the ring, which is something Goldberg and Brock Lesnar should understand.
Riddle also revealed he and Goldberg spoke on the flight back from one of the Saudi Arabia shows. Riddle apologised for his comments toward Goldberg, and the pair remained civil in the locker room since then.
“Everybody here knows I can throw down and I’m going to talk s***. It’s one of those things where I can’t change that. I talk trash.
“That’s my job, that’s what I do. And it rubs some people the wrong way.
“But at the end of the day, even Bill [Goldberg] and maybe one day a certain Beast, they come to understand what I’m trying to do.
“Bill [Goldberg] and I had a conversation. It was like ‘Bill, I’m sorry if I rubbed you the wrong way’ on the way back from Saudi Arabia. We were on the plane, had a couple of cocktails. I’m not saying we’re best friends, but we are doing way better than we were.
While Matt Riddle may have been trying to politic a match against Goldberg, it never came.
The former WCW Champion wrestled against stars like Bray Wyatt, Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, refusing to take on Riddle.
He did confront the former NXT star backstage, in an infamous moment that was caught by WWE camera’s, luckily.
Goldberg and Matt Riddle Backstage Fight
The epic confrontation between Goldberg and Matt Riddle came backstage at Summerslam 2019.
Months after Riddle had torn down Goldberg on social media, the WWE Hall of Famer was keen to meet the young star to straighten out the wrinkles in their relationship.
The tense encounter was filmed by WWE for a documentary series, and saw a chance meeting between the two WWE superstars before Goldberg’s match with Dolph Ziggler.
The conversation was tense, filled with seemingly genuine niceties from Riddle, and faux-friendliness from Goldberg. The former champion seemed to get irritated by Riddle’s overuse of the word “bro”, taking it as a slight of some sort.
The full conversation between the duo went as follows;
Goldberg: I’m in the building, I’ll talk to you later.
Matt Riddle: Cool, I’ll be watching the match.
Goldberg: You got it.
Riddle: I’ll see you in a little. Bro, yeah?
Goldberg: You will, ‘bro’. Good thing you’re wearing your shoes.
Riddle: I don’t need shoes, bro.
Goldberg: First of all, I’m not your bro. Could have been a long time ago. You put a stop to that, okay?
Riddle: Hey, that’s an opinion. If you don’t like it, that’s fine.
Goldberg: Yeah, that’s it. Awesome, good. Nice to meet you.
Riddle: Pleasure’s all mine, bro.
Person 1: You got it. I ain’t your bro.
Riddle: I hear ya! [he walks out of frame].
Matt Riddle spoke about this interaction with Goldberg in a recent interview with Sony Sports India.
The former UFC fighter revealed that their difference of opinion comes from what makes a good wrestler, with Riddle thinking it’s more important to be good at everything in the ring.
This is in contrast with Goldberg, who is known for hitting the same set of moves in every match, and rarely varying up the style of bout that he wrestles in.
Speaking about the backstage interaction with Goldberg, Matt Riddle said;
“I’ll say this. I had my interaction with Goldberg, bumped into each other, he’s not my bro, I get it, you’re not my bro. I kept calling him bro and he didn’t like that whatever, you know me, I’m not the best listener.
Then I talked to him after the match, we had a disagreement, you know, I think he has the belief… and it worked for him… all he needs is a couple of moves in wrestling to be one of the best, and he has the Spear and the Jackhammer.
My philosophy is you gotta be good at everything, you gotta talk, you gotta be able to walk, you gotta be able to grapple, you gotta be able to suplex, you gotta be able to do it all, so we disagree on that.”
Goldberg On Matt Riddle
In a new interview with DAZN, Goldberg appeared to have buried the hatchet with Riddle.
The former Universal Champion came out quite complimentary to the young star, talking about how much hard work and dedication he has to the business.
However, he still called him a “prick”, but added on that he himself could also be considered that sometimes.
“Yeah. The cocky kid (Riddle) spouting off his mouth in the beginning, and I didn’t appreciate it very much by any stretch of the imagination. But the guy has put in a lot of frickin hard work and a lot of hard work, and he’s dedicated his life to this business.
Whether I like him as a human being or not, I have to understand and appreciate his passion for the business and his work ethic. Because he works hard and that I appreciate as an athlete and as a human. Is he a prick sometimes? Absolutely. But that’s him. That’s his character, and so am I.”
Goldberg is rumoured to be facing off against Wardlow, in a huge match at AEW All In 2.