NXT Season 2 Elimination 6: Alex Riley
The sixth individual to be eliminated from the competition was Alex Riley. Riley was accompanied by WWE pro The Miz. In his first NXT match, on June 15, 2010, Alex Riley would defeat fellow competitor Kaval in a singles match. In the end, Riley would amass a record of five wins and four losses during his time on NXT.
Alex Riley would make his first main roster appearance on the September 6, 2010, edition of WWE Raw, where he would attempt to help The Miz defeat Daniel Bryan. He would fail, and also fail in the subsequent match between himself and Bryan the week afterward. Alex Riley would accompany The Miz for the remainder of The Miz’s WWE Championship reign in 2011, before being written off television following a match with John Cena. At the time, Riley was scheduled to be moved back to FCW for a repackaging, but this repackage would never come.
In 2011, Riley would be drafted to WWE SmackDown where he would unsuccessfully compete in singles competition. He would transition into a color commentary role in 2013, regularly appearing on WWE Superstars, WWE Main Event, and NXT. Apparently unhappy with this role, in 2015, Riley would begin a Twitter campaign to obtain the notice of WWE management. Using the #FreeRiley, Alex Riley hoped to get the attention of WWE brass, which he would. He would return to NXT television in a story with then-NXT Champion Kevin Owens. Owens would attack Riley on April 22, 2015, where he would injure Riley (in kayfabe). This would be used to write Riley off of television to undergo legitimate knee surgery for his degenerative arthritis.
In January 2016, Alex Riley made his return to television, defeating Bull Dempsey and turning heel for the first time since 2011. He would go on to lose back-to-back matches to Tye Dillinger, Apollo Crews, and Shinsuke Nakamura. On May 6, 2016, Riley would be released from his WWE contract.
In May 2019, Riley announced that he would return to the wrestling industry, competing under his legal name Kevin Kiley. However, there is no record of Kiley having competed since then. Currently, you can find Kiley in sunny Los Angeles, California. He seems to still keep up with the wrestling industry, according to his social media and has expressed interest in competing for All Elite Wrestling.
