10 Wrestlers Who Changed Their Perception In A Heartbeat

4. Alex Riley

Dr Britt Baker
Twitter, @KileyJrWWE

Before:

One of the more glaring wastes of talent, even in an era of landfill, Alex Riley was quite incredible on the second season of NXT. He exuded a ridiculous poise and charisma in an environment designed to humiliate the talent. So good was Riley in the role of the overbearing a*shole who simply wins at life, it felt like you were watching the first chapter of his three-disc DVD set. Even more impressively, Riley, a raw athlete with abundant potential, showed considerable range by getting over in the babyface role. He radiated a star quality. The man couldn't not be a star.

In a heartbeat:

Riley, pummelled by the WWE system and, allegedly, a John Cena sabotage campaign, sought to reinvent his career. He went real literal with it, using jail cell imagery to express his creative confinement, and since he was as proficient at Photoshop as his NXT colleagues were at cutting promos about moustaches, he made a bit of an e-fed ass of himself. It's the worst Photoshop of all time. It's so bad that it actively makes a case for scripted promos.

And when Kevin Owens carved up on Twitter, there was no coming back.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!