WWE’s Matt Riddle Accused of Sexual Assault, Company Issues Statement

Matt Riddle is accused of sexually abusing a former co-worker, and it comes when his WWE SmackDown debut is set to air. On Friday morning, an indie wrestler named Candy Cartwright went to Twitter to reveal that Riddle sexually abused her in 2018. She said that happened to her “was not ok” and added she “can’t be afraid anymore” to speak out.

Cartwright wrote she was ridding with Riddle and a few other wrestlers in a van. When the three other wrestlers fell asleep, Matt asked her to “hop on his d—.” She refused but mentioned she “had previously been together” with Riddle but was “uncomfortable in that setting.” Cartwright said no and she then wrote “he grabbed me by my throat, choked me and said ‘what if I just made you?’” She then wrote she gave Riddle oral sex and added the ordeal was “incredibly humiliating.”

WWE released a statement on the situation, saying, “We take any allegation of this nature very seriously and are looking into the matter.” Riddle is set to compete on SmackDown on Friday night, and his match is still set the air as it was taped earlier in the week. Riddle, 34, signed with WWE in 2018 after spending four years on the independent circuit. He started on NXT and won the NXT Tag Team Championship with Pete Dunne. Riddle recently appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA how and talked about his relationship with WWE owner and chairman Vince McMahon.

“Vince, I mean I don’t him as well, I’ve only had a couple encounters with him. But the guy is a 100 percent professional,” Riddle said via Ringside News. You know like, it’s almost crazy how professional he is, how focussed he is about his product and how hard he works to try to make it what he wants it to be, you know?” Riddle also talked about his relationship with Triple H, who currently runs NXT.

“Honestly with Triple H, amazing,” he said. “I mean, I don’t think we are like family but he showed me videos of his kids like imitating my entrance in his house and stuff during the quarantine. And we joke around and I think we both appreciate the hard work in being a sports entertainer. We appreciate the business.” Riddle also competed in MMA before entering professional wrestling, posting an 8-3 record with the majority of his appearances being in UFC.