John Cena's 10 Most Notorious Urban Legends

10. Alex Riley's Push Ended Because Of Cena

Story: Alex Riley was a promising young talent that started out on NXT in 2010. He was mentored by The Miz and the two became a duo to be reckoned with. When Miz became WWE Champion in late 2010, Riley was at his side including during the Miz' feud with Cena in 2011. Riley ended up turning face, feuding with Miz and the hope was he'd succeed as a singles wrestler. That didn't happen. During the summer of 2012, there was a report that Riley's push was stopped because of Cena. Apparently Cena was ribbing Riley in front of other wrestlers and Riley responded in an angry manner. We don't know what he might have said or did, but apparently it was negative enough that he broke the "locker room code" meaning that he should have been able to take the joke. From that point on he was barely visible on television. In late 2012, former WWE superstar Tyler Reks ranted about Cena on Twitter. He said this regarding Riley: "Riley? Great guy €“ talented. Would be over as all hell if a certain someone wasn€™t holding him down€ #YouKnowWho" The #YouKnowWho that he's referring to is Cena. It also needs to be noted that for the last two years Riley has been removed from the ring even though he's only 33 years old and he's a full time commentator, mostly on the Raw and PPV pre-show. Why People Believe It: The fact that Riley became a midcard jobber in 2012 would suggest that the story is accurate somewhat. Now that he's just an announcer, he may never be used as a wrestler again. Should We Believe It: It appears to be true to an extent. Riley isn't even being used as a wrestler anymore. Reks backed up the story with his tweet, so it makes me believe like there's some legitimacy to it. Part of it could be that management simply didn't see a lot in Riley and if he's content doing commentary then so be it. Blaming it all on Cena probably isn't fair, but he does deserve some of the blame absolutely.