8 Times WWE Dropped The Ball With Alex Riley
2. Turning Heel
Upon Alex Riley's return from injury in January 2016, the commentators acted almost shocked that he was back - but in a way that they didn't really seem to care.
Truth be told, this was how most fans felt about Riley, considering he had been out of sight and out of mind for so long. However, that was the whole point: Riley was fed up of being overlooked. He was now going to take out his aggression on the newest batch of NXT competitors.
His heel turn got off to a solid start when he made short work of Bull Dempsey in his return match - but things turned decidedly weird once he went one-on-one with fellow heel Tye Dillinger and lost in the matter of two minutes. Dillinger walked away from the match unscathed, and nothing came of his victory whatsoever. It was simply a waste of time, and yet another sign that officials had nothing notable in mind for Riley.
Riley's gimmick in taking out the talent of tomorrow, from Finn Balor to Hideo Itami to Sami Zayn, could have been a blast - but instead, he was relegated to the role of an enhancement talent up until his release from the company in May 2016.