The WWE career of Alex Riley had some ups and downs. There were times when it looked like Riley was going to be WWE’s next big main event superstar, sharing a ring with WWE legends, and then there were other times when it looked like WWE forgot he even existed. RELATED: Every Competitor In NXT Season 2, Ranked

The Rise Of Alex Riley

Alex Riley’s WWE debut came in season 2 of the game show era of NXT. With The Miz as his Pro, Alex Riley was seen as a favorite of the season. He had everything WWE was looking for, he was big, he had a good look and he was excellent on the mic. Riley didn’t win the season, but he was immediately called up to the main roster, helping The Miz in his feud with Daniel Bryan.

The Miz and Alex Riley went on to have a great run. This was The Miz’s ascent to the main event — he was Mr. Money in the Bank and he was becoming one of the most over acts in WWE. As the most hated stars at the time, Miz and Riley were gaining a lot of momentum.

This momentum built and built until The Miz successfully cashed in Money in the Bank and became the WWE Champion for the first time in his career. While Miz’s career was skyrocketing, however, Alex Riley was having a few issues. It was apparent his in-ring work was still a little green for the position he was in and it seemed he was having a few issues with top WWE talent backstage. This may have all started at the Royal Rumble in 2011 when Alex Riley was accidentally eliminated before he was supposed to be. This threw the match out of sync for a few minutes, as Riley was supposed to eliminate John Cena, with The Miz on commentary to set this up. In February 2011, Riley was sent back down to FCW but would return to the main roster just two weeks later, and Riley would continue to manage The Miz all the way up to the main event of WrestleMania 27.

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The Miz would retain his championship at WrestleMania and would continue to hold it until Extreme Rules when he would lose it to John Cena. Furious at losing, Miz blamed Alex Riley for all his misfortune and after weeks of abuse from Miz, Riley finally snapped and delivered a brutal beat down to his partner. This garnered an incredible reaction from the crowd, it was an absolutely unbelievable response and many saw it as one of the best face turns in years.

Over the next few weeks, Riley started getting incredibly over as a babyface, with his music gaining huge pops every week. Though to be fair, Say It To My Face was a hell of an entrance theme and deserves a huge pop for that reason alone.

Getting more and more over as a babyface, Riley started main eventing Raw and was even sharing the ring with WWE’s biggest stars. One Raw, Riley even ended the show celebrating with John Cena and Stone Cold Steve Austin in a beer bash. This segment in particular made many think Riley was getting pushed to the moon. After all, how many young up-and-comers share a ring with Austin and don’t get Stunnered?

But then as quickly as it started, it was all over.

The Fall Of Alex Riley

With no explanation, Riley quickly started moving down the card, he lost his feud with The Miz, he lost a US Championship feud to Dolph Ziggler and by the end of the year was mainly just competing on Superstars. It was clearly evident WWE had given up on him.

Riley’s fall on the main roster is rumored to be the result of backstage heat with John Cena, and Riley spoke about this on Booker T’s Hall Of Fame podcast.

“I have said that I would come back for one night with one conversation with one unnamed person. I believe we all know who it is. And then I’m also going to say that there was a situation where he stood on his belief system on what he believed it took to be a main event wrestler in the WWE, and I stood on mine. And that’s as far as I’m going to take it.”

The career of Alex Riley perhaps best shows just how inconsistent the top brass can be when it comes to pushing younger talent. One week you can be in the ring with Stone Cold Steve Austin, and the next week you are just another name on a list of “What could have been?”