Brock Lesnar's Beef With Matt Riddle Stems From A Wish Gone Wrong

The public drama that ensued between Brock Lesnar and Matt Riddle in the early 2020s unfortunately evolved into an ugly conflict that resulted in both men never being able to compete against each other in singles action, but their dislike for each other simply started with an innocent request.

During the height of his success in "WWE NXT," Riddle made headlines when he claimed that one of his goals would be to retire Lesnar, and with both competitors being former MMA stars, it would give the seven-time WWE Champion an opportunity to fight somebody with a similar background. During a backstage interview, "The Original Bro" specifically explained that he was determined to end Lesnar's career, but stepped over the line when he stated that he didn't appreciate his efforts as a WWE star.

"Retiring Brock, that's no secret. That's been the goal since I've started wrestling. Since the very beginning, I like to set goals that seem impossible. Only one person [can] retire Brock Lesnar. Only one person can end his career, and that person's going to be me. I don't like how he does it, I don't like the respect that he shows, and I don't like the work rate he puts out."

Although Riddle was simply trying to earn himself a match with his hero, Lesnar took his comments very personally, eventually leading to an infamous backstage confrontation between both stars at the 2020 Royal Rumble. 

Ahead of the Men's Royal Rumble match, Lesnar approached Riddle and asked him to stop tagging him on social media and begging to have a match together, later stating that he would never be granted his wish. Shortly after the confrontation, Riddle told "TalkSport" that both Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman made it crystal clear that working on-screen together was not an option.

"Basically told me I had no chance in hell, it was very Vince McMahon-like [laughs], no chance in hell that I was going to get that match with him and I'd have luck doing something else. And I'll be honest, at first, I was just like 'aw [disappointed],' I got this far and you're literally holding me like this [tightly]. Like, he's holding me like we're friends, but we're not. And then he [Lesnar] tells me it's never going to happen."

Despite Riddle being saddened that his dream match would never come true, he would have the opportunity to finally step inside the ring with Lesnar two years later, but not in a one-on-one setting. Both Riddle and Lesnar would enter the 2022 Elimination Chamber Match, where "The Beast" would not only secure the victory but also deliver an F-5 to the former United States Champion.

Lesnar would retain his WWE Championship inside the chamber, but a month beforehand he would also emerge victorious in the Royal Rumble in order to challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Title at WrestleMania 38. That said, Riddle revealed during an interview last year that Lesnar was not the initial choice to win the Rumble, and that he was supposed to headline WrestleMania instead, but the 48-year-old prevented those plans from happening.

"I was told at one point I was going to win the Rumble and everything else ... Then Brock came in, didn't want to do business with everybody, said he was winning [the Rumble match], and then he won. None of the producers, nobody stood up to him, and they let him do it. I didn't either."

Whether Riddle's claims about winning the 2022 Royal Rumble are true or not, the former WWE star has mostly kept Lesnar's name out of his mouth since his release, and has been more focused on criticizing CM Punk's involvement with the promotion instead.