Csonka: Matt Riddle’s Greatest Hits in EVOLVE

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss Matt Riddle and his run in EVOLVE as he is the latest NXT signing. Riddle is a former UFC fighter (8-3-2NC), who was putting together a great career until his use of marijuana led to his UFC release. He then turned to pro wrestling training in 2014, and made his debut in 2015. The story/gossip goes that after a failed WWE tryout, he was considering an ROH run, but when he called WWE about it, WWE set him up with EVOLVE, and that ended up being the best for Riddle and EVOLVE. Gabe Sapolsky and EVOLVE deserve a ton of credit in the growth of Riddle as a performer. Riddle was slowly worked into EVOLVE in short and energetic matches with quality opponents that worked to his strengths, which got him comfortable quickly. He was slowly brought into the fold and climbed the card as part of Catch Point, quickly improved, and got over through his unique charisma and strong in-ring performances. This was all done perfectly as Riddle rapidly improved, and not only won the EVOLVE & WWN championships but alo became one of the best and most reliable performers in the company. And then, according to Riddle’s wife, Riddle received interest from NJPW. Riddle called Gabe Sapolsky (who also works for WWE) about it, and that led to Triple H offering him the NXT deal after years of waiting. So today I am going to share the ultimate Matt Riddle in EVOLVE playlist. Riddle worked other places obviously, but if your curious, you can drop $10 and binge all of these matches in one place on the WWN Network. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are to “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

* 32. From EVOLVE 55: Matt Riddle vs. Tracy Williams [****]
* 31. From EVOLVE 56: Matt Riddle vs. Chris Hero [****]
* 30. From Mercury Rising 2016: Matt Riddle vs. Tracy Williams [****]
* 29. From EVOLVE 76: Matt Riddle vs. ACH [****]
* 28. From EVOLVE 64: Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong [****]
* 27. From EVOLVE 68: Matt Riddle vs. Tony Nese [****]
* 26. From EVOLVE 81: Fred Yehi vs. Matt Riddle [****]
* 25. From EVOLVE 69: Matt Riddle vs. TJ Perkins[****]
* 24. From EVOLVE 77: Matt Riddle vs. DUSTIN [****]
* 23. From EVOLVE 75: Matt Riddle vs. Ricochet [****]
* 22. From EVOLVE 67: Matt Riddle vs. Tommy End [****]
* 21. From EVOLVE 66: Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher [****]
* 20. From EVOLVE 97: Matt Riddle vs. WALTER [****]
* 19. From EVOLVE 109: Matt Riddle vs. Austin Theory [****]
* 18. From EVOLVE 98: AR Fox vs. Matt Riddle @ 11:00 via pin [****]
* 17. From EVOLVE 99: Matt Riddle vs. Jaka [****]
* 16. From EVOLVE 100: Matt Riddle vs. James Drake [****]
* 15. From EVOLVE 103: Matt Riddle vs. Daisuke Sekimoto [****]
* 14. From EVOLVE 102: Matt Riddle vs. Zack Sabre Jr [****]
* 13. From EVOLVE 109: Matt Riddle vs. Austin Theory [****]

12. From EVOLVE 91 – Champion Matt Riddle vs. Keith Lee vs. Tracy Williams vs. WALTER [****¼]: This was a great match with a great atmosphere in the ring and from the crowd. They did a great job of making Lee and WALTER’s interactions feel really important while paying attention to the previously existing issues with Riddle and Williams. Williams took the role of the opportunistic asshole, constantly ruining everyone’s chance to win and also picking up some great near falls, especially down the stretch, and he kept trying to end Riddle’s title run by picking the bones after other’s had done the hard work. Riddle defeated Williams to retain, submitting him and possibly ending their feud. Keith Lee lost, but didn’t take the fall and was protected. But you can see that his happy go lucky façade is slowly cracking, and he was reluctant to give his buddy Riddle the fist bump at the end. I am still waiting for a pissed off and unhinged Keith Lee as a glorious death machine.

11. From EVOLVE 107: Matt Riddle vs. AR Fox [****¼]: This was an absolutely great sprint style main event. Fox came in wanting to prove that he could play Riddle’s game, which proved to be a failure as it was looking like a squash early on as Riddle simply dominated with ease, out grappling Fox and laying in tremendous amounts of punishment It wasn’t until Fox changed his gameplan and worked his style of match, going fast paced, high risk, shock and awe that he was able to get some footing, taking control and scoring with some absolutely great and believable near falls. Riddle eventually overcame, completely overwhelming Fox with a barrage of offense to get the stoppage. This was simply great and the highlight of EVOLVE 107.

10. From EVOLVE 110: Darby Allin vs. Matt Riddle [****¼]: This is a huge and heartbreaking win for Allin, as this was originally set to be an EVOLVE title match. While not quite up to the level of their excellent efforts last weekend, this was an absolutely great main event, and with the clean and decisive win, as well as Riddle putting him over huge post match, Allin leaves this match as a made man. The work was great, the layout and drama worked, and Riddle dominating (as he should due to his stature in EVOLVE), only for Allin to survive long enough to completely frustrate and piss off Riddle, leading to him making a small mistake, leading to the Allin win was a great story. Allin continues to evolve, continues to improve, and has crowd support; he’s a star for EVOLVE.

9. From EVOLVE 73: Matt Riddle vs. Chris Hero [****¼]: This was exactly what I wanted it to be, hard hitting intense and worked with aggression the whole way through and played well off of the previous encounters. There was no need for it to go any longer, these two work well together and the 10-15-minute window works or Riddle’s strengths; less can easily be more under the right circumstances.

8. From EVOLVE 84 – Champion Matt Riddle vs. Kyle O’Reilly [****½]: This was an absolutely awesome main event, both guys were locked in and delivered an extremely entertaining and hard-hitting match. There was some really great stuff on this show, but this was on a completely different level; it looked as if it came off effortlessly for them. It had a great feel of realism I how they pulled off the grappling and striking, allowed O’Reilly to really embrace the style he loves, it also felt big time and important throughout.

7. From EVOLVE 71: Matt Riddle vs. Chris Hero [****½]: This was an amazingly heated and physical main event match, and despite the fact that there was some great wrestling early on, they managed to surpass it. Hero knows how to work Riddle, he kept the time frame in that window that works well for Riddle and worked that style that allows for Riddle to deliver great looking offense as well as sell, which Riddle excels at so early in his career. Also, no one, and I mean no one, works the bully formula better than Chris Hero in 2016. Everything he does has a purpose, it comes at the right time in the right place and it just works. If you’re not watching Hero and Riddle this year, you’re missing out on some special performances. This was another example of an excellent match where both the winner and loser come out looking good.

6. From EVOLVE 111: Matt Riddle vs. JD Drake [****½]: While I would have loved for Drake to take this one, he didn’t need to judging by the post match reaction as Riddle left him alone and he got a standing ovation for his effort. This was absolutely awesome, playing off of and even improving on their first meeting with more hard-hitting action, a greater sense of urgency, and some absolutely tremendous drama down the stretch. Drake had been doing well so far in his singles career, and while he went 0-2 on the weekend, he put in two tremendous performances against WALTER & Riddle that showed that he can hang with anyone, and won over the crowds both nights; he’s a made man in EVOLVE.

5. From EVOLVE 87 – Champion Matt Riddle vs. Keith Lee [****½]: The finish saw Lee collapse from sheer exhaustion after hitting the head butt, with Riddle luckily landing on top after an absolutely great war. This was an excellent main event match, with Riddle surviving, but not being able to put away Lee even with his best stuff. They worked an excellent, hard-hitting match that never felt slow, and stayed in that 10-15 minute window that Riddle thrives in. While Riddle did pick up the win, he didn’t dominate or finish Lee like he does most opponents, protecting Lee and allowing them to easily set up another match down the line, which they did.

4. From EVOLVE 105: Matt Riddle vs. Keith Lee [****½]: This was an awesome main event, a fitting close to the feud and a beautiful send off for Lee who has been an essential part of the WWN world since signing. They played extremely well off of their past meetings with fun callbacks, working to a hot crowd and making sure to close of the feud in style. This was one of those throw it all at the wall matches, there was going to be no rematch, and Riddle went over clean and decisively, but Lee went out looking absolutely great and in a way, rewarded for his great time with the company. To me, there are rare times that the one count/fighting spirit kick outs work perfectly, and this was one of those times. There was no coming back, so having them throw everything at each other, and survive enough to add to the drama, worked here, especially in front of a very receptive crowd. This was billed as the final war, and the work, the crowd reaction, and simply everything worked here. Riddle is locked into his next feud. Lee got to say goodbye; it all worked as well as you could have hoped for.

3. From EVOLVE 104: Matt Riddle vs. Shane Strickland [****½]: This was an absolutely awesome main event, a hell of an angle and a huge vote of confidence for Strickland in his return to the company. The story was great, with Riddle controlling early and just delivering a beating, but Strickland survived the onslaught, which led to his attack of the arm. His work was great, crisp, clean, and focused, while Riddle’s selling ruled and his fight spots came at exactly the right time. They had a hot crowd that was invested into the story that they were telling, reacting to Strickland’s dickish punishment and Riddle’s comebacks, adding a ton to this. This main event was excellent, and an overall huge success in terms of making Strickland a player on night one, and on top of that, he comes off as a much-needed heel and legit threat to Riddle.

2. From EVOLVE 108: Matt Riddle vs. Shane Strickland [****½]: This was an extremely well-built feud that came to its end here in a hardcore match in the old ECW arena. Everything they did to get here made sense, Strickland was the hot hand and delivered as soon as he walked in the door, and with Riddle on the way out, putting the title on Strickland made sense. The match was excellent, playing well off of their previous matches, and also playing into the stipulation extremely well without completely overdoing it and making it a garbage match. It took everything he had, but Strickland finally overcame Riddle, and considering what Riddle brought to the company, he deserved to go out like a Superman here tonight, and it was done in a way that they made you think Riddle may retain. Make sure to catch this one, it’s one of the best EVOLVE matches of 2018.

1. From Mercury Rising 2018 – Matt Riddle vs. Will Ospreay [****¾]: THIS… THIS is what I had been waiting for, we’ve had a lot of good, and very good, and even great during WrestleMania week, but we were missing that outstanding match and finally got it here. This was an excellent match. The story was simple, Riddle was coming in on the championship high, he just beat Sekimoto and Sabre, and the match was under his rules. On the other hand, Ospreay was coming in all banged up and he knew that. He attacked right away, shock and awe, looking to win the match as quickly as possible. It was a great plan, but his reckless nature is what allowed Riddle to take control, and he focused on that neck. This match had the most heat of anything on the WWN shows this week, by a wide margin. Riddle was awesome, showing a ruthless side here, while Ospreay played the resilient babyface, doing his all to overcome. The homestretch was amazing, with excellent near falls, and a real feel that Ospreay could actually win here. This fucking ruled, and has improved on repeated viewings…

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”