Alex Riley had been trying to get WWE to let him wrestle in his last few months with WWE while he was a commentator in NXT.
Riley appeared on "The List & Ya Boy" podcast where he talked about whether or not he preferred to be on commentary or in the ring during his last year while in WWE.
“I was pushing to get back in the ring six months before I became a commentator, and as they were making me a commentator for weeks and months. I loved being in the ring. The real push for me came in, I believe a year before I run up that contract. I really tried to lay it on with social media. I don’t know how much impact it had in the front office. I want to hope that it did. I was happy to get that opportunity against Kevin Owens because I think I proved I belong in trunks and boots and not in a suit and tie,” Riley said.
Riley spent most of 2015 as a commentator in NXT and had a feud with Kevin Owens that saw Riley wrestle Owens on NXT. Riley would sporadically wrestle for NXT until he was released by the company in 2016. Riley would then sign on to act for the GLOW Netflix Series.
You can listen to the podcast in the video above. "The List & Ya Boy" with Fightful managing editor Sean Ross Sapp and Fightful owner Jimmy Van is live on Fightful and on YouTube every Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET.
