8 Times WWE Dropped The Ball With Alex Riley
5. Moving To SmackDown
The WWE draft tends to provide wrestlers with the opportunity to experience a change in scenery and possibly make a name for themselves on a new show. That was nearly the case with Alex Riley, who was separated from his protege of one year, The Miz, in the 2011 WWE draft. While Miz remained on Raw as the WWE champion, Riley was sent packing to the blue brand as part of the supplemental draft.
Apparently, there had been talks for months from officials to split Riley from Miz. Riley would have had a whole other career for himself on SmackDown, and while that would have spared fans their awesome feud, Riley would have had more of a chance to find his footing on Friday nights.
At the time, Raw was loaded with star power - whereas there might have been an opening for him higher up on the card on SmackDown had he stayed. But following only one appearance on the blue brand in April 2011, he re-signed with Raw to resume his feud with The Miz - though that would ultimately do more harm than good.