Highlights
- Riddick Moss struggled to find a recognisable gimmick in WWE, but Vince McMahon made him prove he could laugh before approving his Madcap Moss character.
- Moss aligned himself with Baron Corbin as Happy Corbin's sidekick, playing the role of Madcap Moss and getting under the viewers' skin with his disingenuous laughter.
- Currently, Moss is lost in the shuffle as a singles wrestler, often used to take losses or competing on Main Event, despite many people having high hopes for him
When going through the stages of acquiring a new gimmick, Vince McMahon made a weird request to WWE Superstar Riddick Moss.
Moss has had a very up-and-down career in WWE. For the most part, fans usually agree that he has the look and build to eventually become a star in the company.
He debuted in 2014, and, unfortunately, despite it nearly being a decade later, the performer only has a couple of 24/7 Championship reigns to his name.
Latest news on Riddick Moss
WWE have been flippant in their presentation of Moss, as he has been in various tag teams on different shows and event popped up during Raw Underground’s brief stint when the company were heavily experimenting with the red brand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout his early run, Riddick struggled to settle into a recognisable gimmick that fans could latch onto, and as such, it was hard for fans to see him as a future top star.
However, Paul Heyman, who brought Riddick to Raw, has gone on record to sign the former NXT star's praises, even saying that he has the potential to become a main eventer like Roman Reigns. Things started to look up for Moss in 2021 though when he made an impactful return from injury by attacking Kevin Owens and aligning himself with Baron Corbin. Then described as ‘Happy Corbin’, the 2016 Andre the Giant Battle Royal winner was in the midst of his obnoxiously jolly character, who would revel in telling jokes, something which Riddick would take on.
Assuming the role of Corbin’s sidekick, he was renamed as ‘Madcap Moss’ and would respond to his partner's overtly terrible jokes by exploding in fits of disingenuous laughter, with the aim of getting under the skin of WWE’s viewers, and to be fair to the duo, it worked.
What was Vince McMahon's request for Riddick Moss?
To discuss the gimmick and how it came about, Moss spoke at ‘Notsam Wrestling LIVE!’ to tell the story of how Vince McMahon made him prove that he could laugh before giving the green light to his new character.
There is a very similar characteristic between myself and the Madcap (Moss) character which is I love to just have a good time and laugh and not take anything too seriously. At the end of the day, as much as we care about all these things, it’s just wrestling and I like to have fun and that applies not just to wrestling but to anything in life. I just want to have fun and if there’s ever an angle for me to get to laugh, I go for it. There’s no doubt. Unless it’s a really inappropriate situation but even then, I think about it, you know? Can I get away with this right now? So I think that there was that aspect to it maybe. I think it kind of just lined up and it was a bit lucky. But I did have to show, demonstrate to Vince (McMahon) that I could laugh. So he explained the character, explained what he was looking for out of the character and then said, ‘Okay, laugh.’ ‘Excuse me?’ He said, ‘Laugh.’ ‘Haha, haha, haha! Haha!’ ‘Alright, that works. We can work with that.
Today, Moss is back to being a singles wrestler. Unfortunately for him, the 34-year-old appears to be lost in the shuffle as things stand, only being used when the company need someone to take a loss or compete on Main Event. As always, should more come out about Riddick Moss and the plans for him, GiveMeSport will keep you informed.