Former WWE Superstar Says John Cena Incident Affected His Career Path, Exit From WWE?
A former WWE superstar recently addressed WWE rumors involving an incident between himself and John Cena. The former WWE Champion has been cheered and booed at arenas all over the world, but he has been described by many as a hard worker and a “company man.” While the company’s top superstar for the past decade or so has been polarizing with fans, it seems the same can be said of Cena backstage. One particular superstar who exited WWE several years ago despite a promising earlier role with the company may still harbor some irritation towards Cena over his involvement in his career.
According to Wrestling Inc., the Two Man Power Podcast of Wrestling show recently featured former WWE star Alex Riley for an interview on their latest podcast. Riley was previously part of a strong run by The Miz when he was the Money in the Bank briefcase holder. He would go on to suffer a diminished mid-card role as many stars tend to. While on the recent podcast, the topics that Riley discussed were how he has transitioned into the acting world with the hit Netflix show GLOW, as well as his role as a commentator with WWE before leaving the company. That wasn’t all Riley was asked about, as the show hosts brought up a rumored incident that occurred between Riley and “Mr. Hustle, Loyalty, Respect” John Cena.
Regarding the rumor, Riley stated he isn’t saying anything that hasn’t been said by others.
“There was an incident and it certainly affected the path of my career, however I am not going to talk about it right now and I’ve kind of gone back and fourth in my own times morally with do I say anything or do I not. I am not in the habit of destroying anybodies career so it is just something at this point that I don’t want to address further than that but one day I certainly will. It was a hard situation to deal with.”
Riley’s not the first to mention the Cena incident, as former WWE superstar Ryback also spoke about it on his own podcast, Conversation With The Big Guy. Ryback mentioned that Cena would “bury” Riley to everyone backstage “for no reason.” Ryback added that “his [Riley’s] career is over in the WWE for no f**king reason outside of John and his personal issues.” It’s still unknown what exactly what went down between Cena and Riley to cause any incident, but is it possible that Riley did something to irritate Cena enough backstage?
Back in May of last year, a podcast from The Solomonster discussed the concept that various superstars may have irritated Cena, including Riley. Another superstar mentioned in the WWE rumors was JTG, who was part of the tag team Cryme Time and ended up using the words “loyalty” and “respect” in a magazine interview to the ire of Cena. The speculated story is that because of those few famous words that JTG chose to use, Cena caused JTG’s upcoming WWE merchandise to be put on hold from ever being released.
Fast forward to present time and Riley landed a minor acting role on the hit Netflix original series GLOW as Steel Horse. He mentioned that part of why he went into commentary with WWE was to begin to delve into possibly getting some acting roles as he’d seen other stars, including The Rock and Cena, do so. If nothing else, Riley can at least credit his departure from the company as possibly opening up some new doors for his career and possibly get into other acting gigs aside from his one episode appearance on GLOW.
As for the Cena vs. Riley situation, fans will have to wait to hear what exactly went down between the two. Most likely, the former WWE superstar will release an autobiography or biography years from now to tell his side of the story involving the details of the John Cena incident.
[Featured Image by WWE]
