Ex-WWE star claims he could “beat the hell out of” Roman Reigns in the cage or street

Roman Reigns is undoubtedly one of the most dominant WWE Superstars of his generation. During his historic title reign, the OTC dominated the entire division for almost 1,316 days as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. However, a former WWE star has now claimed that he could beat Reigns in the cage or on the streets.

The superstar in question is Matt Riddle. The Original Bro was released from the company in September 2023 for his behavioral issues outside the company. Before landing in WWE, Riddle was an MMA fighter; he even had a brief stint in UFC before being cut by Dana White.

Matt competed against Roman Reigns in 2022 on an episode of SmackDown for the Undisputed Championship, but lost to the OTC. Recently, speaking in an interview with TMZ, Riddle revealed that he had rubbed multiple WWE stars the wrong way for speaking out. He stated that he even upset Reigns when he told everyone that he would “beat the hell out of Reigns" outside the squared circle in a cage or on the street.

"Even Roman Reigns at one point I rubbed the wrong way. They get really angry when you spit facts. So, if I said you are hard to work with and you can't fight, CM Punk gets really mad. If I said, 'Goldberg you're a terrible wrestler, and you injured people,' he gets mad. You know, Roman, they asked me to talk crap about Roman. I told everybody, 'Hey, he might beat me in the ring, but if we were in the cage or street. I would beat the hell out of him.' And he knows that I know that, and everybody knows that, and Roman got upset about that," he said. (23:00 -23:31)

Moreover, The Original Bro said that many people, especially fans, get upset when someone speaks the truth.

"But from what I have noticed, and it's crazy because we are in this world of sports entertainment, but a lot of people get really angry and uncomfortable with the truth, especially fans as well," Riddle said. (23:31 - 23:43)

Roman Reigns is set to make an appearance at a major WWE event

After he was brutally attacked by Seth Rollins and The Vision on the post-SummerSlam edition of Monday Night RAW, fans predicted WWE may have written the OTC off television with the angle.

However, to everybody's shock, the Stamford-based promotion announced Roman Reigns for the two upcoming editions of the red brand. He will also be at the Clash in Paris 2025 Premium Live Event and may even compete in a match at the show, probably against Bron Breakker or Bronson Reed.

That said, the angle proposed above is speculative, and nothing has been confirmed yet. It will be interesting to see whether the Tribal Chief will respond to Riddle's bold comment in the future.

If you use quotes from this article, please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription and credit TMZ.