One WWE Star's Instant Heat With John Cena Would Never Be Extinguished

For much of the 2000s and 2010s, John Cena was the undeniable "top guy" in WWE. According to some, it was important for younger talent to avoid getting heat with Cena, as he seemingly gathered enough influence to shut down someone's push if he chose to. One such case involved Alex Riley, a wrestler who was signed by WWE in 2007 and joined the main roster three years later.

After taking part in the second season of the reality-era "WWE NXT," Riley began accompanying The Miz on "WWE Raw," and the two were soon feuding with Cena. According to Riley himself, he and Cena immediately got off on the wrong foot, and it sounds as though various issues between the two fractured their relationship. 

Even after moving to "WWE SmackDown," Riley's career continued to intersect with Cena's. The two even had to team together after a tag break-up between Riley and The Miz. Allegedly, Riley was meant to eliminate Cena from the 2011 WWE Royal Rumble, but he accidentally let himself get eliminated too early. This threw off multiple spots in the match, with things shuffled around on the fly, and it seems to have contributed to the problems between Cena and Riley. 

Another story claims that Cena once offered Riley advice and the younger wrestler didn't seem very interested in taking it. At the very least, Riley has acknowledged that he and Cena once had a disagreement backstage. Though Riley tried to apologize the following day, he has stated that Cena was "pretty offended" by his actions. 

His interactions with Cena were unlikely to be the sole cause, but Riley's wrestling career never fully recovered. Over the next year, he was booked to take a significant series of losses and then moved to commentary. Though Riley tried to stage an in-ring comeback at one point, it was derailed by injury, and he was released by WWE in 2016.