Goldberg Calls Riddle a 'Booger', Angle Talks WWE Creative, Killer Kross Rumor

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW. 

Goldberg Dismisses Riddle, Calls Him a 'Booger'

It's no secret that Matt Riddle and Goldberg have some backstage heat. Riddle has consistently ripped Goldberg since his return to WWE on social media and in interviews, and the situation boiled over into a tense altercation at last year's SummerSlam event.

While Goldberg has mostly kept to himself about the situation, he opened up and fired back at Riddle in a recent interview on the Total Slam podcast. 

"Riddle is like a booger stuck in your nose; he is annoying and won't go away," Goldberg said, per Ross Kelly of Wrestling Inc. "He has no influence on Goldberg's life. Period. End of story. It's the wrestling business and sometimes when you're out in public you may run into a former foe and you can never know how the situation will turn out. It is what it is, and we don't see eye to eye."

Riddle has already responded, wishing Goldberg luck ahead of his Super ShowDown matchup with Bray Wyatt:

At this point, it'll be a major disappointment if there's never an in-ring blowoff between these two. They're clearly both invested in keeping the rivalry alive, and it may even be a fun sendoff for Goldberg to go over his main antagonist since his WWE return.

Angle Wishes He Would Have Wrestled Earlier in WWE Return

When Kurt Angle made his WWE return in 2017, he didn't do so for an in-ring role. He was the RAW general manager from April through August 2018, wrestling only sporadically, before going on a farewell in-ring tour that culminated at WrestleMania 35.

In an appearance on the Table Talk with D'Von and Mo podcast, Angle said he wished he would have been able to make an in-ring impact before moving to a backstage role (h/t Wrestling Inc.):

"I wanted to come back to WWE and wrestle right away, unfortunately that wasn't their plans for me, they wanted me to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, then they wanted me to be the GM of Raw.

"By the time I had got to wrestling, I wasn't quite the same anymore. Just sitting out that year and a half, I probably only had one or two matches where they were special occasions. [TLC] in that tables ladders and chairs match where I substituted for Roman Reigns, that's all I did. When you get older and you're not active, your body gets arthritic and then you start slowing down. Your neck and knees and back start to get tighter. You start getting a lot more pain. I believe that if I would've stayed active, I'd still be wrestling right now.

"I'm not blaming the WWE. I don't blame Vince McMahon for doing what he did with me, because I was a liability coming back. I broke my neck four times in the WWE in the past, I had a pain killer addiction and the company wanted to tread lightly with me when I came back so I totally get it. I'm glad they brought me back to induct me into the Hall of Fame, I would've just done it differently, I would've wrestled right away. I was still wrestling pretty well at that point, I took a year off from TNA, I did the Indy circuit and I was wrestling extremely well. When I got to WWE they kind of pulled the reins on me and said well we're not going to have you wrestle right away. Taking that time off and sitting around really affected my body."

Anyone who watched Angle's final moments in the ring could easily pick up on what he meant by the stiffness comments. He was clearly hobbled by years of neck injuries, and his final matches were filled with occasional moments but no last classic to put on his resume.

'Something Big' Slated for Killer Kross

Dave Meltzer said on the Sunday Night Main Event podcast that there is potentially something behind the speculation that Killer Kross is responsible for the screen glitching that has been appearing on SmackDown in recent weeks.

As noted by Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc., WWE is planning "something big" for Kross' debut; it's not expected that he will go through the typical cycle of NXT debut before moving to Raw or SmackDown.

Kross was one of the hottest names on the independent circuit, so it's no surprise that he may have negotiated a deal to bypass a NXT contract. With AEW looming as a major player for free agents, it's possible WWE will have to sweeten the pot for similar signings in the future to avoid losing out to the rising promotion.