8 Times WWE Dropped The Ball With Alex Riley
3. Returning To The Ring
As skilled as Alex Riley was in the commentary role, his place was inside the squared circle. He had unfinished business as a wrestler, and after petitioning on social media for months to be "unleashed from his cage," Riley was finally allowed to return to it at the onset of 2015.
Needless to say, there was no way Riley was going to beat Kevin Owens at any point during their feud, but it was a nice way to get him out from behind the booth. Moreover, he benefited from working against the NXT champion at the time, and fared well for himself in each of their outings. The only issue with the rivalry was that Riley was made to look like a loser every time. He was beaten so decisively, by that point, the rebirth of his wrestling career was already off to a sour start.
Before Riley could build any real steam, he suffered a shoulder injury, sidelining him for nearly nine months. Of course, that wasn't the fault of management, but they could have done more with him beyond his feud with Owens.
His story in stepping back between the ropes was fun to follow.