Matt Riddle Explains Why He Keeps Calling out Brock Lesnar

Matt Riddle has been claiming he'll retire Brock Lesnar from the WWE since his days on the independent circuit, and it infamously led to a tense backstage moment at the Royal Rumble earlier this year where Lesnar told Riddle to stop namedropping him and that they'd never work together. Riddle has stopped outright calling out the former world champion since then, but he stated it's still his major goal for his wrestling career. So why poke "The Beast" like that? Riddle explained his reasoning in a new interview with Corey Graves on After The Bell this week.

"I want a piece because he's awesome. I think he's taken my comments as literal disrespect and I think he hates me, which hey, okay, I get it," Riddle said (h/t Fightful). "I rubbed you the wrong way. I told everybody, 'I get it, I'll stay away, I won't call these people out anymore, but I still want it.' I'm not gonna go away, I'm gonna make myself valuable enough until the money is on the table and I know I can do it"

"When I first started wrestling, people were like, 'what's your goal?' I like to set goals that are unattainable because, in the process of trying to get to that goal, you're probably going to be great," he continued. "So, I want to retire Brock Lesnar. Everyone is like, 'Hahaha! That'll never happen! You're an idiot.' Yeah, it probably won't happen, but I know that if I try, I'll probably be super successful. Brock, nothing but the utmost respect. I need to make myself valuable enough to where we get in the ring. I hope I can do that and it's not a one minute squash [laughs]."

Riddle made the jump to the SmackDown roster back in June, where he quickly entered a feud with AJ Styles. He came up short in trying to beat "The Phenomenal One" for his Intercontinental Championship, then wound up in a feud with King Corbin.

As for Lesnar, the big man hasn't been seen on WWE television since losing the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36. He reportedly won't be back until WWE can host live events with fans again.

Do you think a match between Lesnar and Riddle should happen? Let us know down in the comments!