Ex-WWE Star Alex Riley Returns To The Ring At NWA Nuff Said

As Kevin Kiley Jr., the former A-Ry wrestled his first televised match in six years.

By Andrew Pollard / February 12, 2023

NWA

Last night's NWA Nuff Said PPV saw the former Alex Riley wrestle his first televised match in six years.

Using his real name of Kevin Kiley Jr., the ex-WWE star came up short against EC3 at Nuff Said. And more jarringly, Kiley came up majorly short when he at one point attempted to dive out of the ring onto this opponent.

I’m happy to report that Alex Riley is back wrestling… and he’s now doing dives he has no business in doing, and is eating s**t doing them: pic.twitter.com/DBNN3c2N77

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— Mark Smith (@podjohnnyringo) February 12, 2023

Some have speculated that the mistimed dive from Kiley was purposely done as part of the story of the match, where EC3 spent plenty of time mocking the one-time A-Ry for being washed up. In fact, one might even say that EC3 said it to Kiley's face...

As alluded to, Ethan Carter III - who has now officially signed with the NWA - controlled large parts of this contest and regularly talked trash to Kiley. Shortly after the former lackey of the Miz crashed and burned with the aforementioned dive, EC3 rolled him into the ring and got the submission win.

In terms of Kevin Kiley, the Virginia native was under the WWE banner from 2007 through until 2016, going from Florida Championship Wrestling, to the gameshow iteration of NXT, to cornering the Miz in the main event of WrestleMania XVII, to a flat main roster singles run, to a spot at the NXT commentary team, to returning to the ring in NXT, and then being released in May 2016.

Prior to NWA Nuff Said, Kiley had only wrestled one, non-televised match since departing WWE, with that coming last December as he teamed with NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Tyrus to defeat the VBU tandem of Dante Drago and Jack Tomlinson for Create A Pro Wrestling.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 12th Feb 2023