Alex Riley Talks Heat With “Unnamed” WWE Wrestler
Former WWE star Alex Riley joined Booker T's Hall of Fame Podcast to talk about his WWE career. In particular Booker wanted to discuss what went wrong with Riley's WWE career, which Riley attributed to a conflict with an unnamed WWE star that he did not name, but hinted that it was a person everyone knew he had issues with. In the past, Riley has spoken about issues with WWE star John Cena, while Arn Anderson has said an incident between Riley and Cena cooled off Riley's momentum.
"I have said that I would come back for one night with one conversation with one unnamed person," Riley said when asked if he'd return to WWE. "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. He's not here to defend himself. I would never do that to another man in that business. I've spoken my piece on Instagram the best I could. But I believe that certain somebody deserves the right to defend himself for what he believed it took to make it in that business in sports entertainment. A business that I love, that I gave my life to equally. And we both had different belief systems. That's the best way I can articulate it. I would be a fool to say that people don't understand who I'm speaking of at this point, but I want to leave it at that. I'm Vince McMahon loyal. I know he was a fan of mine, I know he believed I was massively talented, I have heard that from people, I believe I'm massively talented and I was bringing a lot to that business.
"Now this person and I, I will say this, we just really didn't like each other. I mean we really didn't like each other. And I don't think that's a secret anymore. I did the best I could to play, and I don't want to even say play. Every business is political, I understand that. And I understand it was a gift to be a part of that company. Vince McMahon allowed me a space to grow, to use my voice, to create a character, to become larger than life. And I tell people this, I am only here because I was given an opportunity by management of WWE. They had enough confidence in me to put on me on live worldwide television. That is a massive compliment. With a microphone in my hand, not only to speak to the United States of America, but to speak to the world, as a living, larger than life character. There reached a point where myself and another person there just didn't like each other. And I mean we really didn't like each other. I did the best I could with it."
Ultimately Riley would love the opportunity to come back to WWE to resolve the issues that led to his departure. Whether that will occur or not is unknown even to him.
"I welcome the opportunity," Riley said. "I know there's a lot going on in wrestling right now. There's AEW, there's Reality of Wrestling and there's WWE. I've said I'm WWE loyal. I am WWE loyal. I appreciate what Vince did, I love him for it, I believe he's always loved me equally, I believe he's always recognized my talent, I believe he always was a big believer in me. But there was something there that I will wait to speak about on WWE programming. I just really believe that's fair to the world and it's very fair to all parties involved. If that's where I can leave it, I would love to just leave it there."
You can watch the full interview below.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Hall of Fame Podcast and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription