Few wrestlers have ever stood as close to greatness as Alex Riley did without quite touching it.For a time he lived in the thick of the biggest storyline in wrestling, brushing shoulders with John Cena at his most unstoppable and sharing airtime with The Rock during one of the most feverish WrestleMania builds WWE ever put together. Riley got his WWE break alongside The MizWWEThen, almost as quickly, the momentum that made his early career so compelling began to drift away.Years later, Hollywood came calling instead, offering the kind of second act that few fans expected from the man who once played the loudmouthed apprentice to The Miz.Riley arrived in WWE with the athletic pedigree the company loves to develop. A former Boston College football player, he signed a developmental deal in 2007 and made his mark in Florida Championship Wrestling, viewed by some as the precursor to NXT, before breaking onto the national stage as part of NXT Season Two.Mentored by The Miz, he finished third, then walked straight into the chaos of a fully fledged main roster storyline just as the company’s biggest stars collided.Far from getting the gentle and more gradual introduction that many rookies receive, one minute he was wearing Florida colours in FCW and the next he was flanking the WWE champion on Monday nights, being told he would be sharing a live microphone segment with icons he had grown up watching.The rookie who suddenly found himself trading shots with WWE’s biggest starsHe later told Slam Wrestling: “If you don’t look comfortable, if you don’t look like you belong, they’ll pick up on it. So there it is. So when they give you a microphone and tell you you’re going to say some words with Rock or with Austin, you’re going to have to defend yourself against them, there comes a lot of (pressure) and you want to step up to the plate.”In early 2011, when The Miz was champion, Cena was chasing, and The Rock had returned to Raw for the first time in years to reignite their rivalry, Riley found himself in the middle of it.He became the lightning rod between them, feeding the verbal and physical storms as WrestleMania XXVII approached. It all led to that steel cage match on Raw, the night Cena pinned him and ended his role as Miz’s apprentice. But it did not end his exposure.At WrestleMania he was in the middle of the title match itself, interfering repeatedly as Miz and Rock pulled the storyline tighter.Riley’s biggest personal triumph came months later at Capitol Punishment 2011, where he defeated Miz one on one.Riley made it to the grand stage of WrestleMania in early storylinesWWERiley even helped give The Rock a kicking – albeit briefly – on RawWWEIt felt like the logical next step for a performer whose charisma and rhythm had started to unlock. He entered that year’s Money in the Bank ladder match and challenged for the United States Championship as the pieces briefly seemed to fall into place.Riley suffered a legitimate hip injury in late 2011 and the timing could not have been worse. By the time he returned, he found himself deeper down the card, as can so often be the way.Wins became fewer, television time less certain, and eventually he was moved into a commentary role, a decision he never made peace with.Later asked if he enjoyed being moved behind the desk, he was adamant in telling UPROXX: “No, I did not. I don’t mean to be blunt, but of course I didn’t. I went [to NXT] to be a wrestler, I wanted to be a wrestler very badly and I certainly was athletic enough and certainly had the tools and a lot of tools to be the best wrestler there.”Eventually, his stalled push found a defining moment of its own when what Riley referred to as “an incident” involving Cena “changed the path of my career.”Revealing little else, he told veteran broadcaster Jim Ross: “I’ll put it this way, there was an incident and it certainly changed the path of my career. I don’t want to discuss it right now, but I will one day for sure. I will one day. It was a tough situation at times. He added: “I promise you this, I will address it one day for sure. You don’t want to know. It was a tough situation.”Riley enjoyed singles stardom all-too-brieflyWWEThe wrestler turned Netflix actor said ‘an incident’ involving Cena altered his careerWWEA WWE exit shrouded in mystery — and the unexpected road that followedRiley was released by WWE in May 2016 with little else known about his departure, but what followed surprised almost everyone. Riley turned to acting under his real name, Kevin Kiley Jr.His break came with the Netflix series GLOW, where he played Steel Horse. “One of the best days of my life, one of the biggest honors I’ve ever been given, is to have a role in this show, this early in [my] transition into acting,” he admitted.It prompted a new direction. He threw himself into auditions, earned roles in films like Glass Jaw and Bennett’s War, and began rebuilding the confidence that had once powered his rise through WWE’s system.Many a WWE career has been shaped by circumstance and a slightly mysterious ending, From trading verbal and physical jousts with Cena and Rock, to finding a new home under the streaming spotlight, Riley’s journey has never been short on twists.