10 Desperate WWE Superstars That Used Social Media As A Cry For Help

6. Alex Riley's Caged Fury

Alex Riley cage
Twitter, @KileyJrWWE

All beard, wet hair and growl, Alex Riley was of little note on an otherwise dynamic NXT product in 2015 in his Hail Mary tenure as a sub-2000s Triple H imitator. “Say It To His Face” was the primal command at the start of an entrance theme that bizarrely brought the masses rushing to the rails following his 2011 babyface turn on The Miz, but a litany of injuries and political missteps had left him marooned on the developmental brand’s commentary desk shortly before his release from the company outright.

It was during (and before… and after) this time he took to Twitter with even more ‘rage’ than his half-baked on-camera persona, lobbing bombs at AJ Lee, Dave Meltzer and even Jushin Liger in several misguided efforts to get himself noticed/acknowledged by a company that had long moved on.

In tweets now sadly deleted due to the incineration of his account (though thankfully retained on various websites), Riley tore into the Japanese legend in what was hopefully just a misguided attempt at fire-stoking:

"U were big in Japan? Good for u I was watching attitude era and punchin people in the mouth the whole time @WWENXT by the way ur name again?”

Piling on the in-house mockery AJ Lee took for inking her first title win on her neck, he gifted the world the following upon her release:

"I Just got 4-3-15 tattooed on my neck"

To Meltzer, he took the most tired route:

"Let’s hear from the marks.. Oh wait, your opinion doesn’t matter, ur not in the 20×20 scrapping for your life with BOOTS & TRUNKS on...I hated the word ‘mark.’ I used to correct people I worked w/ that used the term, saying “they’re fans!!” But I think I Am understanding now”

Shortly before his release, Riley compared himself to a ‘Phenix’ (sic) that would rise again, much like Enzo Amore in his recent ‘rap’ proclamation. Ironically now the most buried of all the birds, wrestlers need to leave that particular corner of mythology alone.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett