8 Times WWE Dropped The Ball With Alex Riley
1. Feud With The Miz
If he wasn't going to be drafted to SmackDown in 2011 and start a singles career for himself, Alex Riley turning on The Miz was the next best thing, especially after all the beatings he had taken at the hands of his protege for almost a year. The feud wrote itself. Only, it didn't.
After Riley unintentionally cost Miz the WWE Championship on several occasions throughout the spring. The Awesome One then fired him as his personal assistant, leading to Riley snapping on Miz and unleashing all hell on him.
The crowd went nuts for Riley on that night, and the sweet new entrance music by Downstait he marched out to the very next week helped him stand out as a star. He got the better of Miz at every turn for an entire month, even beating him in a singles match in his hometown of Washington D.C. at Capitol Punishment.
Oddly enough, Riley's red-hot push was cut short there.
He was involved in a few more higher-profile matches that summer, but he was no longer presented as "the next big thing" as he had been hyped up as for months. Despite still receiving reactions from crowds, Riley was instantly dropped from the spotlight coming out of a series that never had a proper conclusion.
And, for the remainder of his run with WWE, he was never utilised the right way again.