I Was Wrong: Looking At Alex Riley As A WWE Main Event Star

Doing this for over six years now, there are many perks that come with writing columns about wrestling. Obviously, the monetary gain depending on the website. The chance to interact with other fans. The opportunity to interview/quote wrestlers. The platform to voice an opinion. The ego boost received through emails/tweets from readers. All good stuff. A part of that comes with the inevitable – gloating about being “right” when the history books are written.

From the man who predicted the sinking of the Titanic (what is his name?) to the man who predicted Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan at WWE WrestleMania 28 would last under a minute (hi!), there is always that motivation. Mine have been numerous throughout the years: WWE stock plummeting, everything about TNA Impact Wrestling’s current mess, Zack Ryder being a flash in the pan (if even that), John Morrison leaving WWE, Mark Henry being World Champion in 2011, Hulk Hogan returning to WWE, CM Punk NOT coming back anytime soon, Sting working with WWE in 2014, weekly television ratings patterns, Daniel Bryan getting his payoff, etc. The list goes on and on. However, there are two sides to a coin…

I have also been VERY wrong over the years. Babbling on Twitter, deep in a wrestling forum, on Facebook, Skype with your buddies or making ‘bold’ predictions in the bottom of a comment section is one thing (that I do not personally do). Those are read by a select few and are basically irrelevant. Just spewing nonsense with no repercussions. As noted above, writing a column for the whole world to see makes it mean that much more. Thus, this concept was born. Instead of raving constantly about ‘calling it’ every week, why not flip the script? Humble myself a little? Sure. Sounds like fun. First up…

I Was Wrong: Alex Riley As A WWE Main Event Star

Note: I selected this column topic in the middle of last week.

Before getting to the negative side, it is only fair to discuss WHY I was so dead set on Alex Riley becoming a main event star:

Theme Music – Silly reason? Maybe, a tiny bit. However, let me ask you this. Would Stone Cold Steve Austin be the same if he Dude Love’s theme music? Or if The Undertaker came down the ring while Damien Sandow’s Hallelujah theme song played? See my point? Alex Riley had (and still does have) one of the BEST theme songs ever done by WWE. To this day, I have no problem listening to it along with my other playlists. Right when it hits, you get jacked. Perfect song for a wrestler.

Heel Character – If you only watched Alex Riley on the main roster, you missed out. He was a great cocky heel in FCW/NXT and had the gimmick down pat. The arrogant high school jockey was ready made for him. He was The Miz before The Miz was truly The Miz! Hope that makes sense. The best part? When he was on the main roster, his lackey role also was good. Riley rode it all the way to a WrestleMania main event appearance. Yeah, the man had the acting chops to get it done in WWE.

Face Turn – Oh my, this was a great moment. In the middle of 2011, it was clear The Miz was moving down the card. No shame in that. He had a stellar 2010 and early 2011 run. It was time to move on though. In doing so, that meant elevating Alex Riley to be a star on his own, and to everybody’s credit – it worked out to a massive crowd reaction. Alex Riley had momentum, he was beating The Miz on pay-per-view, he had his own entrance/theme, direction, etc. Even the A-Ry nickname was catchy. Heck, the man once shared a beer with John Cena and Stone Cold Steve Austin on an episode of Raw and did NOT eat a Stunner afterwards. Big stamp of approval there. Pardon me if I got jazzed up and was ready to call him a future WWE main event star…

Where Did It Go Wrong?

There are quite a few different theories here. Since this IS the internet and backstage gossip IS passed off as legitimate (right?), I may as well start with the popular thought.

Incident With John Cena? -Needless to say, I do NOT buy into this rumor as to why Alex Riley lost his momentum. That goes without saying at this point. For all the conspiracy theorists and ‘believers’ out there, this is for you. The story goes that Alex Riley did not take too kindly to some Cena ribbing in front of other co-workers. Apparently, it was breaking the code of the locker room. Riiiiiight. This hit the online reports in July 2012. The Riley ascension to the top was long over at that point, so that raises red flags right away. Plus, sorry, but I refuse to believe ONE incident did him in. Sorry. It makes for a juicy story but no.

Injuries – Mark Henry, Edge, Christian, and others can back me up on this thought. It is nearly impossible for WWE to truly get behind you as a character when/if you get injured all the time. Right as Alex Riley starting moving up the card in Summer/Fall 2011…he got hurt. Not good. Same thing happened in 2012. Tough break.

Wrestling Ability – Sadly, this seems like the main culprit. There was the little miscue at the Royal Rumble in 2011 with his elimination spot. There was that massively blown spot with Jack Swagger. There was a reported issue with a match he had against The Miz. There was the story going around that he was not progressing in the ring and no longer could be on Raw/Smackdown. WWE Superstars and the like were his show going forward.

Analyst Work – Now we arrive to present day. I suppose we may never know, but I wonder: Alex Riley is a pretty good analyst for the WWE Network, but who made that decision? Did Riley request some commentator/talking/hosting work? Did WWE ask him to try other jobs outside of the wring? Did it come up mutually? Like I said, we may never know the truth, but Matt Striker and Josh Matthews both had good runs in WWE as commentators. Not wrestlers. It may not be “main event star” like I had predicted many years earlier, but it is a relatively cushy (and non-physical!) job with the biggest wrestling promotion in the world.

YOU TELL ME! Was I right to believe Alex Riley was on his way in 2011 to become a WWE main event star OR was it a ridiculous stance from the beginning where I would always end up being wrong?

Self-Promoting Finale

Thanks to everybody who joined me for my third ever live tweeting session Monday night during WWE RAW! Not my cup of tea admittedly, but I said if I reached 600 Twitter followers I would live tweet again, so I did. When will I live tweet again you ask? Well, I will get back to you when I reach 650 Twitter followers. Until then…

Go check out my Jay’s Ways column over at the NoDQ website. I want to do another reader feedback edition this week, so comments made below will go towards that! No insults or cuss words will earn a reply, as usual.

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