Matt Riddle thinks Vince McMahon was the best boss he has ever worked with, ahead of Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Dana White. He believes the biggest difference between them is the way they treat their talent.
Riddle appeared on That Sweet Pop for an interview taped by Brad Lewis at World Series Wrestling MegaMania in Auckland, New Zealand. He said he would rather get criticism right away, even when it comes with the threat of being fired.
“You know, I’m a big thing when it comes to bosses,” Riddle said. “I love brutal honesty. And for me, out of all of them, Vince was the best boss. If he did something he didn’t like, he didn’t wait. He didn’t say, ‘Good work.’ He told you right to your face, and he told you you messed up and you need to fix this or you’re not going to be here much longer. And you adapt, right?”
Riddle compared his time with McMahon to how Dana White treated him, particularly after he left UFC.
“Well, I feel like, I mean, by the time Dana did, I was already fired,” Riddle said. “So if he would have said that stuff to me before he fired me, before he went on Fox and just ripped me to shreds and called me on there…”
Riddle said some of his problems with UFC came from speaking out in favor of cannabis back when the company was allowing the use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).
“But at the same time, different folks, different strokes,” he said. “At that time, they were allowing players to use TRT. They just got the sponsorship of Budweiser. So me pushing, like, more of a cannabis-friendly [approach] and saying alcohol and testosterone is bad, they didn’t like that.”
Riddle was released by UFC in February 2013 after testing positive for marijuana metabolites twice within seven months. The company also changed the result of his fight with Che Mills to a no contest.
Riddle and White continued to have a tense relationship. In an interview with Barstool Sports in September 2019, White said he didn’t regret firing Riddle, though he had no hard feelings toward him.
Riddle has talked about Triple H before. During an autograph signing in January 2024, he described Paul Levesque as fun, kind and understanding. He said he wishes he could have gotten closer to Levesque, but Triple H was always busy on show days.
Riddle revealed around the same time that Vince McMahon wasn’t a fan of his goofy antics at first. Bruce Prichard had to stand up for Riddle’s in-ring ability when the two spoke. Later, Riddle was able to gain McMahon’s trust and started to make him laugh backstage.