Matt Riddle Releases Video Denying Sexual Assault Accusations

Matt Riddle was one of the many wrestlers who was accused of sexual assault last month during the [...]

By Connor Casey

Matt Riddle was one of the many wrestlers who was accused of sexual assault last month during the #SpeakingOut movement on social media. The Friday Night SmackDown star was accused by independent wrestler Candy Cartwright, real name Samantha Tavel, of assaulting her during a van ride back in 2018 and has since combated Riddle's claims that she was "stalking" him. The former UFC star released a new video on Wednesday, openly admitting that he and Tavel had an affair but emphatically denying assaulting her.

You can see Riddle's video below. WWE has fired several wrestlers for accusations made against them in recent weeks, though as of now Riddle has continued to appear on television.

"I have never in my entire life sexually assaulted a man, woman or anybody and that includes Samantha Tavel, Candy Cartwright," Riddle said. "I never sexually assaulted you. The story about that van trip and the driver being asleep and me forcing you to do stuff, hop on whatever, it's a complete lie. It's a fabricated story because you're still mad. You know why you're mad? Because you're right, we had an affair, you have plenty of evidence of that. And you know what I never denied it because it happened. Do I want to talk about it? Do I really want to share about it? No, because it's embarrassing. I feel like a real piece of crap cheating on my wife and doing that and now having to talk about it publicly."

Riddle said he was depressed by the affair, and attempted to end it by telling his wife Lisa what happened. He then says he blocked Tavel on social media, only for her to keep messaging him on different apps. He blocked her on those and changed his number, but she found his new number and continued to message him.

He then claimed Tavel has showed up to hotels harassing him and his friends.

"And then when she didn't get her way, she used the #SpeakingOut movement to try and ruin my career. Completely unacceptable."

We will continue to report on this situation as more information becomes available.

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