Former WWE Superstar Matt Riddle recently revealed that Brock Lesnar once grabbed him by the back of the neck in a backstage hallway, confronting him over a t-shirt that listed "Retire Brock Lesnar" as an unchecked goal.
'The Original Bro' shared the story during a lengthy sit-down on the Rewind Recap Relive podcast, explaining that the merchandise was never meant as genuine disrespect, but it was a motivational tool. He said:
I get there. All of a sudden, the only guy grabbed me by the back of the neck when I'm walking in the hall and I turn around and it's Brock Lesnar. His security guard goes, 'Hey, you need help with this?' I turn around like — does Brock Lesnar need help with me?
Riddle claimed that Lesnar pulled him aside and issued a blunt warning: the two would never work together, and Riddle needed to stop using his name. Riddle said he pushed back without backing down.
I'm like, 'Dude, I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do. I was just talking trash. And if it got you this worked up, it must have worked. If anything, you touched me now.'
The T-Shirt That Started It
Riddle explained that the shirt featuring the "Retire Brock Lesnar" checklist was an extension of his goal-setting mentality, not a legitimate rivalry campaign. He sold the merch on the independent circuit long before he ever crossed paths with Lesnar in WWE.
I set my goals high," Riddle said. "Am I going to retire Brock Lesnar? 99.9% of the time, no. But if I make that my goal, I'm going to get pretty far.
He added that Lesnar taking personal offense to it only validated the strategy — and that the confrontation itself proved a larger point about how the locker room operated around The Beast.
Riddle is currently competing in Major League Wrestling, where he is pursuing the MLW Heavyweight Championship.
