WWE issues brief statement regarding allegations against Matt Riddle

Originally published at WWE issues brief statement regarding allegations against Matt Riddle

Matt Riddle has been accused of sexual assault with WWE issuing a brief response to the matter.

The allegations were made by independent wrestler Candy Cartwright as part of the #SpeakingOut movement that included numerous allegations made public against many individuals.

Cartwright alleges that she in a van with Riddle in May 2018 with three other wrestlers. According to Cartwright, the other wrestlers had fallen asleep with Riddle proceeding to proposition her and led to him allegedly grabbing her by the throat. Below is Cartwright’s full statement on the incident:

I’m posting this because I have been so sad for so long. I didn’t realize that what he did to me was not ok. I realize now, reading these other brave women’s stories, that I can’t be afraid anymore and I have to.

Back in May of 2018 I was riding with Matt Riddle and a few other wrestlers. During the van ride, when the 3 other wrestlers had fallen asleep, Matt asked me to “hop on his dick”. When I refused (although we had previously been together I was incredibly uncomfortable in that setting ) When I said no, he grabbed me by my throat, choked me and said “what if I just made you?” I ended up giving him oral sex (praying someone wouldn’t wake up) to get out of having intercourse with him. It was incredibly humiliating.

It is never ok to put your hands on a woman, it’s also not ok to not listen when she says no.

Cartwright also posted screenshots of messages between her and Riddle in June 2019, as well as messages that she states are from Matt’s wife, Lisa.

On Friday, WWE issued a statement to several media outlets that mirrored the statement they released regarding the allegations against Jordan Devlin on Thursday:

We take any allegation of this nature very seriously and are looking into the matter.

POST Wrestling has reached out to Matt Riddle and will update this story if there is a response.

Didn’t know at the time that what he did was wrong but also felt humiliated at the time…?

There are screenshots of what Matt Riddle and his wife have had to say in response to the accusations as well. Obviously denying it. The validity of some of her screenshots are also being challenged.

Someone also messaged her saying Riddle used to brag to the boys about raping her… would be interesting to know who that someone was. If it happened maybe they should publicly support her. I’m skeptical though, if it happened, I can’t see him bragging about it.

Things don’t add up here in my opinion. Like I said in the other thread though, hopefully the truth wins out. Whoever that may favour.

Yikes, this is not good. I wonder what the next step is? Does this go to court? Are there charges?

Isn’t Riddle making is debut tonight on SD? I wonder if they edit his segment out until this has some type of resolution.

Uh yeah, that is really bad. They should probably hold off on his debut

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I am a firm believer that when woman speak out about these types of things we need to listen and take them seriously and not jump to “they’re lying”.

I also am a firm believer then the accused deserves due process, and we should not label them as anything until due process has played out.

Regardless of what happened, very disappointing to read this article.

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Boom!

Yeah three sentences printed on sticky labels…

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So now we’re just taking Twitter statement as gospel? What changed since yesterday?

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So WWE will suspend if arrested and fire if convicted, or take action if irrefutable evidence is provided :thinking:

Essentially WWE will take no action until the leave process plays out which we know historical is not favorable to those making accusations.

Why do we spend time on a company that absolves itself of its own talents actions and refuse to be part of the solution.

Thank you @kliq for catching that typo

I disagree. You are talking as if you know they are all guilty. What do you know that the rest of the rational (i.e. those not jumping to conclusions based on emotion or groupthink) population don’t? I mean ffs, it’s the internet. Anyone can post anything without any real fear of consequences. At most they should suspend the performers (with pay) if a criminal complaint has been made but to take any other action based on unfounded accusations essentially means the basis of your and most of civilised countries criminal justice systems are redundant.

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I think you mean “refuse to be a part of the solution”.

What would you suggest they do? If they are in fact going to suspend when arrested, fire if convicted, or take action if irrefutable evidence is provided, what else do you want them to add to that? The only other thing I can think of is fire when accused and I don’t think you can even legally do that.

The NFL has tried to play judge, jury, and executioner with their players and to say that has been a shit show is an understatement.

WWE’s 90-day contracts effectively allow them to fire anyone at any time.

These aren’t just random accounts on Twitter posting stuff. These are co-workers or people acknowledged to have been in relationships with these people speaking out at great risk to their professional lives.

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When did the internet become the arbiter of truth and justice?

I have zero issue with “innocent until proven guilty” especially with accusations against Riddle that seem kind of off. You can acknowledge that overall there’s an issue but when trying to actually label specific people, you need to get it right.

And it’s ridiculous, in my opinion, that you’re making this an “OMG WWE” situation. It seems like most of this stuff happened on the indies where there’s less oversight.

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When bloggers got the mic.

You realize you’re commenting on the message board of what could be considered an “online blog” right…

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Agree. I tend to hold judgement on either party in these situations until the process works this out.

Sounds like he said, she said stuff right now.

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That doesn’t mean that I think the fate of these people should be in my hands. Unfortunately a lot of people do. I dislike lynch mobs whatever the circumstances. Zero care, zero perspective, zero objectivity, just madness.

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Online outrage being equated with lynch mobs is the height of out of touch. Online outrage doesn’t put anyone in prison. I have no issue with it costing someone their job.

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