The rivalry between Matt Riddle and Seth Rollins took a much more personal turn on Monday when Rollins brought up Riddle's divorce and his ex-wife taking his kids.
Riddle and Rollins have a personal history behind the scenes that dates back to 2019 when Riddle's ex-wife body-shamed Becky Lynch, who is Rollins' wife, and other WWE women on Instagram.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, Rollins detailed his issues with Riddle.
"As long as I've known the guy, I've never really liked his attitude. I've never really liked the way he goes about his business. A lot of the ways he sort of disrespected guys way above his pay grade when he was down at NXT, the Booker Ts, the Goldbergs, the Brock Lesnars, I'm just like, 'Dude, pay your dues, work your way up, you're so good.' He's so ultra-talented in the ring, just like he was in the octagon. That's never been his issue, his issue is his head, getting himself mentally where he needs to be able to consistently perform. He's trying to talk his way to the top, which I respect in some ways. At the same time, you're going to get there, just work your way up the right way. It really kicked off, there was an incident with his now ex-wife, where he was taking her side as she was, better or worse body-shaming, that's the only way I can put it, my wife and some of the other girls in the locker room, completely unprovoked. I understand, as a husband, you have to take your wife's side, but you also can zip your trap sometimes. I felt like him taking her side, I was like, 'You gotta shut up.' Essentially, the guy opens his mouth when he shouldn't and says things when he shouldn't, and it gets him in some hot water. I don't like the way he conducts himself," said Rollins.
Rollins confirmed the comments made by Riddle's ex-wife were not for storyline.
"No, I don't even know what prompted her to do that. I don't even know in what context or what world she thought her opinion was necessary. I don't want to spend too much time on her, but the main crux of it was, 'Yo dude, you work with us, we're supposed to be working together and you're creating this divide where this doesn't need to be one.' Him speaking up and saying, 'I've got her back no matter what she says because she's my ride or die,' I get it, but there are better ways to handle the situation," he said.
When asked if he ever confronted Riddle when the comments were first made, Rollins replied, "I never talked to him. I never said anything to him. I believe the comment happened when he was in NXT and when he got called up to the main roster, I was like, 'Don't want to work with him, don't want to deal with him.' It's very easy to ignore people if you want to."
Riddle previously revealed that he apologized to Rollins after WWE Survivor Series 2020 when the two men were on opposite teams. They never interacted in the match as Rollins was eliminated early.
When asked if he has issues working with Riddle now, Rollins said, "I'm a professional. I get the job done. Anybody I ever worked with, you could ask, no matter what has gone on backstage, when the red light is on and we're out there in front of the crowd, it's a different person. Backstage is a different situation as well. There is Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle backstage, we're never going out, hanging out, going to bars, partying, doing anything like that. Probably not even sharing a slice of pizza. Then there's Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle in the ring, and I'm a professional, so I handle things accordingly on both sides of the camera."
Rollins bringing up Riddle's divorce caught many fans off guard as it was a very personal situation that doesn't often bleed into WWE television.
Rollins believes nothing is off-limits when it comes to what is said on the microphone.
"I don't think so. This is something I learned from working with John Cena. He always taught me to have a very thick skin when it came to whatever was said on camera because it's fair game. If it's on camera, it's fair game, it stays out there and lives in that world. Backstage, that's a different world. Those are two different things. John always instilled in me, and I always feel the same way, you can bring up anything you want about my personal life, and I've got plenty of skeletons in my closet that you can talk about, or things that I'm insecure about, and you have to be prepared to handle that on the back end. When you're out there in front of the camera, I say anything goes," he said.
Asked if there would be something that he considered to be too personal, Rollins could only think of one thing.
"I don't think so. Aside from some sort of threatening remark to my baby girl, might push my buttons the wrong way. Other than that, I'm mostly on John's side, you have to be able to have a thick skin in this business, especially on camera," he stated.
Rollins and Riddle are set to finally meet in the ring at WWE Clash at the Castle.
Fightful will have live coverage of WWE Clash at the Castle beginning at 1 p.m. ET. Fans can check out the current lineup for the show by clicking here.
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