Riddle reflects on WWE’s run inside the ThunderDome.
From August 2020 until this past July, WWE presented their Raw and SmackDown programs via the ThunderDome set up. Throughout that period, Monday Night Raw’s Riddle became United States Champion and this past weekend at SummerSlam, he and Randy Orton captured the Raw Tag Team Titles.
BT Sport released Ariel Helwani’s sit-down chat with Riddle and they discussed WWE’s ThunderDome run. Riddle said he enjoyed it and felt that he was able to get more over even without fans in attendance.
Honestly, I kind of liked it [no fans period of WWE]. It reminded me of when I was on The Ultimate Fighter. So it was kind of refreshing and you know when you first — even though you wrestle and you do all this and you’re on camera and I’ve done pay-per-views and all [that], it’s different when you start working for different people and even though it’s one company, there’s a lot of different umbrellas and when I started working directly under Vince [McMahon] and stuff like that, you know I was kind of glad I got to do it in the ThunderDome era because I felt like I didn’t have to rely on crowd reaction or anything. I had to get myself over as people say, in front of him, in front of nobody and I had to do it with no audiences there and I had to prove myself. I honestly consider myself one of the only people that got more over in the ThunderDome era with no fans around which is almost like impossible. How do you get more popular in an era with no fans? Only TV viewers so, it was difficult but I think that also showed the company how valuable I am and how dependable I am and everything else, you know?
Riddle and WWE Hall Of Famer Goldberg have both gone on record about not seeing eye-to-eye. Goldberg recently told DAZN that although he and Riddle may not completely get along, he does respect what he’s done and is doing in wrestling.
Riddle opened up about his recent interaction with Goldberg backstage at Raw and explained that things went somewhat smoothly between the two.
I’ll say this: Goldberg isn’t a man of many words I don’t think. Neither am I really. I talk a lot but, doesn’t really matter. But I saw Goldberg the other day backstage when he first came back and I was waiting, I was in position. I knew what was probably gonna happen. I put myself there but I wanted — I wanna ease the tension slightly. I don’t want this guy to think we’re gonna fight every time he shows up to work. That’s not who I am. You know, like I said, we might have a thing but he saw me and he’s shaking some hands and then he comes up to me, I don’t think he saw me yet but then he’s like, ‘Oh, here’s Riddle’ and he gave me a funny look, turned his head to the side and then shook my hand and said, ‘Hey, congrats kid’ and I was like, ‘Aw, thanks Goldberg.’ I was like, ‘Hey, go kill it out there’ and then he went out, cut his promo and he came back and when he came back, I was like, ‘Hey, good stuff. Good stuff Bill’ and he goes — if you remember the first time we talked, it wasn’t caught on camera but he told me all he needed was two moves and as he walks away he goes, ‘Two moves. Two moves!’ And I was like, ‘Still Bill.’ But like I said, the guy’s got an aura and I have respect for him and we might disagree on a couple things but it is what it is.
Goldberg challenged Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. The match was called off after Goldberg could not make it to his feet. Post-match, Lashley put Goldberg’s son in the ‘Hurt Lock’.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit BT Sport and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
