I strongly disagree with what @
ALL-BORO said about something having to be verbatim to be a bite. If that were the case, then I could steal all the concepts that I wanted to and just change some words around, thereby relieving me of the burden of having to actually come up with punches.
With that said, I don't believe that Rieper bit this. As far as "circumstantial" evidence goes, I've known the guy long enough to be a good character witness for him, and even though he's done some stupid shit like self-voting in LB's distant past, I don't think that he would ever bite anyone.
Furthermore, the way that these two concepts are executed is more than different enough for two people to have independently thought of them. They're really not even the same concept - just two different concepts which tie into the same thematic material.
I know that Rieper has been accused of biting several times before. I didn't find any of those accusations convincing, and although this is just another piece of circumstantial evidence, Rieper has dropped so many concepts in so many battles on so many accounts that it's inevitable that a few of those concepts would strongly resemble concepts used by other people.
With that said, the fact that Rieper did presumably read Rican's bar at some point strengthens the case against him. If I didn't know Riep as well I do, I probably wouldn't believe him when he said that he forgot Rican's bar and came up with his without thinking of that one. If what I just said isn't clear to you, imagine if this accusation were being leveled at Macc.
Final judgment: Not a bite. But I'll be damned if it doesn't look bad.