Alex Riley addressed his pro wrestling elephant in the room without actually addressing that specific elephant by name. Riley (real name Kevin Kiley) was the guest on Booker T’s Hall Of Fame series and Booker asked him about his current squared circle status which led to Riley bringing up his well-documented heat with John Cena.
“I have said that I would come back for one night with one conversation with one unnamed person. I believe we all know who it is and then I’m going to also say that there was a situation where he stood on his belief system of what he believed it took to be a main event wrestler in the WWE and I stood on mine and that’s as far as I’m going to take it. He’s not here to defend himself, I would never do that to a man in that business. I’ve spoken my piece on Instagram best I could, but I believe that certain somebody deserves the right to defend himself. I would be a fool to say that people don’t understand who I’m speaking of at this point, but I want to leave it at that,” Riley stated before noting that he remains loyal to Vince McMahon.
“I’m Vince McMahon loyal. I know he was a fan of mine, I know he believe I was massively talented, I have heard that from people. I believe I’m massively talented. I believe I’m till massively talented and I was bringing a lot to that business. Now this person and I, I will say this, we just really didn’t like each other and I mean really didn’t like each other and I don’t think that’s even a secret anymore.”
Riley does mention AEW by name during the conversation (as well as Booker T’s ROW promotion in Houston, TX) , but reiterates that his allegiance lies with three specific letters.
“I have said that I am WWE loyal. I am WWE loyal. I appreciate what Vince did. I love him for it, I believe he’s always loved me equally, I believe he’s always recognized my talent, I believe he always was a big believer in me, but there was something there I will wait to speak about on WWE programming. I just really believe that’s fair to the world and it’s very fair to all parties involved. If that’s where I can leave it, I’d love to just leave it.”
Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone
Booker and Riley delve into more aspects about wrestling and you can hear the entire conversation below:
