Update On Brock Lesnar Allegedly Going Into Business For Himself At WWE Royal Rumble 2022

A claim emerged this week from former WWE talent Matt Riddle, who suggested during an online signing session with Signed By Superstars that he was scheduled to win the 2022 men's Royal Rumble but plans changed after Brock Lesnar went into business for himself. 

"So I believe — you know, it’s sports entertainment — that I was told at one point, yeah, I was gonna win the Rumble [...] and then what was it? Bobby Lashley beat Brock Lesnar because somebody came in and hit him with the belt or what have you. Then Brock came in, didn’t wanna do business with everybody, said he was winning, and then he won. [...] None of the producers, nobody stood up to him and they let him do it. I didn’t either, I didn’t either. I’m like, f*** man, I’m just here," Riddle stated.

A report from PWInsider shortly after the 2022 Royal Rumble even suggested that Riddle was the original planned winner but separate reports noted that was not the case and Lesnar was booked to win the match two weeks before the pay-per-view.

In the latest update, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Riddle was never seriously considered to win the Rumble in 2022 as the company didn't completely trust him. 

Meltzer stated: "Rumble, from what I was told, if you think about when it was and everything like that, and how he was being pushed, and that the winner of the Rumble main events WrestleMania, he was never being pushed at that level. And I was told that he was not considered seriously at any point to win the Royal Rumble. So that’s the story.

"And going back, yeah, could he have been a guy who won the briefcase and they did angles with him and some comedy? Absolutely. [But] Royal Rumble and main event WrestleMania against Roman Reigns or somebody like that? It's not like they couldn't have done it, but they weren't going to do it then. I know people there, top people, that were very, very high on him. But he kept getting the bad pub. A lot of people didn't really want to see him succeed because he was not very judicious.

"When you're going out there, I mean, one of the things that's such a no-no politically, is to go and say, If it was real, I could kick Roman Reigns' ass, and he probably could. But you're not supposed to say that. And, he got on the wrong side of Bill Goldberg by saying Bill Goldberg wasn't any good. Bill Goldberg is not really a great wrestler, he just was in the right place at the right time with the right charisma. And he's a legend, superstar, a needle mover, giant star, and that's that.

"So there were a lot of key people who did not want to see him at that level. And both for that reason, and for the fact that I think there was a lot of apprehension in the sense that he kind of fell out in UFC, fell out completely in Bellator. And there's a trust level. For the main event at WrestleMania, I think that you want guys that you got a higher trust level than they had with him at that time. And would have even more now. Obviously, they ended up firing him."

H/T TJR Wrestling & POST Wrestling