WWE Wellness Policy Questioned In Wake Of Matt Riddle Report

Matt Riddle has reportedly been suspended by WWE for failing the company's wellness policy for a second time. Riddle was written off TV following an attack from Solo Sikoa on the December 5 edition of "WWE Raw" and it now appears as though the angle was due to the suspension. Pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer on "Wrestling Observer Radio" questioned WWE's decision-making regarding its handling of the situation with Riddle.

"If that story is accurate, there are a lot of questions on that one," Meltzer said. "The claim is it's his second failure, but he was never suspended for his first failure and they're supposed to announce every failure on the main roster and they haven't announced either failure."  The report, which came from Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net, said that Riddle's first wellness policy failure occurred several months ago during the lead-up to SummerSlam.

"Wrestling Observer Radio's" Bryan Alvarez claimed the punishment for wellness policy violations has been inconsistent.

"Sometimes people allegedly get popped and don't get suspended," Alvarez said. "Sometimes, they get popped and they do get suspended. Sometimes they get popped and they don't get suspended, they just get fired. ... There was one person this year that I believe was popped for something, I don't want to be too, too specific about this, but they were fired and it was not a situation where this was something egregious or there was something that was, was drastically affecting their, their immediate well-being. ... They got popped for something that a ton of people are doing and somehow not getting popped for, and they were immediately fired."