Miami, FL – Matt Riddle says EVOLVE was sports oriented and less sports entertainment when he was involved with the promotion. Riddle wrestled for CCW at VIVO! at Dolphin Mall in Miami.
The former WWE talent gave his thoughts on EVOLVE which is currently owned by the WWE.
“EVOLVE back then, you know, was more of a sports style of professional wrestling in a world where was professional wrestling was dominated by sports entertainment. EVOLVE was one of the hottest independent scenes and now EVOLVE is basically WWE now. They bought the library when I was there. So, yeah, it is still growing and still kicking, and it is awesome to see,” he said.
He also commented on wrestlers becoming jiu jitsu practitioners.
“We train at RUDOS jiu jitsu. They are great friends of Sumie Sakai who I am great friends with. I am a black belt, Shane is a brown belt, Shinsuke is a black belt. Basically, there are current or former WWE Wrestlers. Highly built and highly trained. We all train there. We just switched locations. We are in Colonial in Orlando. We have a wrestling ring there and a bunch of mats, space and bags,” he said.
He also said that jiu jitsu helps performers in the long run.
“For me, when I am in that ring I am never uncomfortable and I think is because of my years of doing jiu jitsu, wrestling and fighting because when you fight in a steel cage for your life with thousands of dollars that pay for you in front of millions of people but when you get into professional wrestling not that it is easy but you won’t get stressed out or worried or scarred cause you have been in some sticky situations in your day,” he added.
