No one will be talking about Riddle versus Omos from the June 20 edition of Monday Night Raw for long, but it still showed why Riddle is a legitimate superstar for WWE. This wasn't some five-star classic that Dave Meltzer will be writing about for the next decade, and it seems unlikely that the echoes from the outcome will be particularly far-reaching. Unless Omos wins Money In The Bank, which is another conversation entirely.
Instead, what's noteworthy about the match is that it wasn't unwatchable, boring, or slow. Those have been trademarks of Omos' bouts up to this point, and it's impossible to hold that against him because he's 7-foot-3 and some 400 pounds. Riddle did what Bobby Lashley had failed to do in recent months, however, which is get a solid match out of the big man. We saw flashes of this during his contests against AJ Styles, but The Phenomenal One hasn't been at his best lately.
Meanwhile, Riddle has enjoyed a slow and steady push to the top of Monday Night Raw's main card. WWE gets bored with these pet projects all the time and pulls the plug before they have a real chance to get going. History is littered with former NXT standouts who just didn't pan out following their call-up. The booking of RK-Bro was mostly on point, though, and Riddle's momentum is now more than just a rub from a legend such as Randy Orton. Riddle is a legit superstar in his own right, both in terms of his character and in-ring work.
There's a dichotomy in Riddle's character that is lacking among some of WWE's wrestlers. He's capable of making audiences laugh during his promos, but that's because he's simply being himself. When push comes to shove inside the wrestling, fans know that he has the background of a legit UFC fighter, so when he fires up, it carries weight. Moreover, few performers working right now can garner sympathy as Riddle can. It's one part his excellent selling and one part his relationship with the injured Randy Orton, and it works wonderfully.
Audiences can count the number of tag teams that actually feel like brothers on one hand. It could even be argued that RK-Bro feels more tightly knit than The Usos, and they are actually family. WWE is allowing Riddle to leverage that emotional connection while also performing at a high level in the ring, and the results have been a new main-event caliber star in Riddle. He hung with Roman Reigns and made that one-on-one match believable. He lost, but it doesn't feel like it hurt him. The sense is that he was right there in the main event with the biggest draw in the company and hung. Omos' post-match beatdown of Riddle garnered more reaction than anything he did with Lashley, which speaks volumes about the former Deep Waters and his ability to sell and generate sympathy. Omos looks like a monster. Riddle looks like a star. Mission accomplished, WWE.