McLeod's Daughters (English pronunciation: /məˈklaʊdz ˌdɔːtəz/) is a Logie award-winning Australian drama series that aired on the Nine Network from 2001 to 2009. It tells the story of two sisters, Claire and Tess McLeod, who are reunited after they inherit the family farm. Brought together after 20 years apart they put together an all-female workforce and commit to life at Drovers Run in South Australia, 180 km from the nearest town and 400 km from the city. The show had a major cast change in the final episode of season three when main character Claire McLeod (Lisa Chappell) departed the show and co-star Simmone Jade Mackinnon, who played Stevie Hall, became a main character.^[1] In season 5 we discover that Jodi Fountain's biological dad was Jack McLeod, as a result of Jack's affair with Jodi's mum Meg, which makes her the half-sister of Claire and Tess McLeod. From season four onwards, more McLeod women joined who were cousins of Claire, Tess and Jodi McLeod. On 31 January 2009 the Nine Network aired the show's 224th and final episode in a movie length special. The show suffered poor ratings after Bridie Carter (Tess) and Rachael Carpani (Jodi) departed in seasons 6 and 7 respectively. There were no original cast members left at the time the show ended. However, Rachael Carpani ( Jodi ) and Sonia Todd ( Meg ) appeared in the series finale just as the voice of Bridie Carter ( Tess )

Currently reruns are being shown on the Nine Network's new female skewed HD Multichannel GEM.

Plot[link]

Jack McLeod dies and leaves his heavily mortgaged family farm, Drovers Run, to his daughters. Claire is Jack's daughter from his first marriage. His first wife, Prudence, died giving birth to Claire's brother Adam. He later married Ruth Silverman, and they had a daughter, Tess. The two girls were close growing up, but were separated when Ruth took five-year-old Tess back to the city. At the beginning of the series, Tess returns home to the place she left more than 20 years before.

Tess, who recently lost her mother to breast cancer, hopes to sell her share of the farm and open a café in the city, but is disappointed when she is met with a less-than-rosy financial picture and the open resentment of her older sister. Claire fires the male workforce after they are caught stealing petrol from the farm, and the sisters run the farm themselves, with the help of housekeeper Meg Fountain, her daughter Jodi, and local girl Becky. The tentative partnership is the first step in the reunited sisters' effort to heal old wounds, improve their relationship, and lift the property out of debt.

Three years later, in October 2003, Claire’s best friend Stevie Hall arrives at Drovers Run to replace Becky, who left with Jake to run a farm. Weeks after Stevie arrived, and after Claire gives birth to a daughter in a paddock. Tess and Alex barely makes it to her side to help her. Claire and Tess are driving home with party supplies, with baby BOM (baby of McLeod), when Claire loses her life in a tragic car accident. Alex had plans with an engagement ring on her pillow. Heartbroken, Tess is left to run Drovers by herself with the help of Stevie and the girls. Eventually, Stevie invests her opals into Drover's Run, and Tess gives her 10% of the property, promising Stevie she will always have a home.

In March 2006, Tess and her husband Nick decide to leave Drovers to run a farm in Argentina. After finding letters and DNA support, Jodi discovers that Jack McLeod was her real father. Tess and Nick come home, Jodi reveals to Tess she is her sister. Tess and Nick leave again for Argentina, Stevie is now running the family property with the help of Jodi, her cousin Regan, and Jodi's best friend Kate Manfredi, who arrived in 2004.

In 2007, Jodi decides to go into witness protection with her boyfriend Matt, leaving Drover's Run. In Jodi's absence, she deeds her part of the family property to her cousins Regan, Grace and Jazmine as per her "will" because she is presumed dead in a car accident, and cannot own property.

With Regan running the farm with Stevie, Tayler and Kate, Regan’s estranged sister Grace Kingston arrives at Drover's Run after getting a letter in the mail. Regan is a geologist and is torn between her love for rocks and Drover's. The romantic relationship between Alex and Stevie continues to develop and later that year, they marry. Regan also departs to study for a new job.

In 2009, Kate Manfredi leaves Drover's for a new job, and Regan returns after a year away. After her return, Regan and Grace's sister Jazmine McLeod makes a surprising appearance at Drovers, hiding a dark secret. Stevie Hall's cousin Ben Hall also arrives at Drovers to help out after Alex's death. In the series finale, Jodi Fountain-McLeod happily returns to Drover's Run to give birth to her first child, after coming out of witness protection. Her husband Matt is working elsewhere.

At the end of the show, nine women who represent Drover's Run: Stevie, Jodi, Grace, Jazmine, Regan, Moira, Meg, Ingrid, and Tayler ride horses to cliff viewing the property. It has been said that Tess speaks but she never does.

Series history[link]

Posie Graeme-Evans developed the idea for McLeod's Daughters in the early 1990s for her company Millenium Television in conjunction with the South Australian Film Corporation. She also developed the idea for children's television programs such as The Miraculous Mellops and Hi-5. The idea was for a television drama set on an Australian rural property with two half-sisters running the property inherited from their father with an all-female workforce. She developed the idea from stories from friends who grew up in the country and from the love of South Australian landscapes as shown in the paintings of Hans Heysen.

Graeme-Evans pitched the idea to the board of the Nine Network who agreed to film a telemovie in 1996 with Jack Thompson starring as the father Jack McLeod, whose death leads to the two half-sisters (portrayed by Kym Wilson as Tess and Tammy MacIntosh as Claire) inheriting the property. Following the success of the telemovie shown on Mother's Day 1996 the Nine Network board agreed to commission a 22 episode series, but the project was left on the shelf for four years. It wasn't until late 2000 after the Opening Ceremony for the 2000 Sydney Olympics featured a The Man from Snowy River theme, which highlighted the cultural significance of the bush to Australians. The first episode of McLeod's Daughters eventually debuted in August 2001 and proved to be a hit, attracting 1.89 million viewers. The first season was a success, attracting an average of 1.5 million viewers per episode in Australia. The show aired in New Zealand on TV2, one of TVNZ's free-to-air channels. The final season on TV2 began airing a month after Australia and eventually became 10 episodes in front of Australia until the finale. Re-runs from Season 1 are currently on Vibe in New Zealand, a channel aimed at woman's programming.

The second season of McLeod's Daughters was equally successful, being the third most popular drama on Australian television. By 2003, the show was the most popular drama series on Australian television. Lisa Chappell, who played Claire McLeod, left the show in October 2003 to further her acting and singing career. Her character was killed off in the landmark episode 72 (season 3, episode 28) "My Noon, My Midnight", but appeared in episode 73 "The Long Goodbye" (3.29) as a figment of Tess' imagination.

The popularity of the program in Australia was highlighted when the show won four Logie Awards (Logies), including Lisa Chappell winning most popular female actor and Aaron Jeffery winning most popular actor, with the show itself winning most popular Australian drama series in 2004 and 2005.

The show then began to decline in popularity and perceived quality. Cast turn-over was high, and increasingly far-fetched explanations were employed to explain the sudden departure of formerly important characters. Rachael Carpani's departure in 2007 meant that the show had only one original cast member left, Aaron Jeffery, who left in 2008. 2007 marked the point at which many viewers considered the show to have "jumped the shark" as the show had drifted into a new direction, that of a soap opera; at that point, the show began to experience low ratings. Aaron Jeffery commented to The Daily Telegraph that his desire to depart from the show was due to the new direction the show was taking, which he did not like.

The 200th episode of McLeod's Daughters aired on 3 October 2007, with Hugh McLeod (Grace, Jasmine and Regan's father) returning for this special event. An entirely different script was originally written when one of the original cast (speculated to be Bridie Carter) agreed to come back; however, it was pulled at the last minute. Ratings for this episode were very poor by Australian standards, with only 1,008,000 viewers tuning in; the highest that season was 1,415,000 for episode 16.

The eighth and final season began on 23 July 2008 with the episode 203, "Aftermath," but after two further episodes, Channel 9 pulled the show from its schedule due to extremely low ratings. The remaining episodes were eventually aired from December to January in a double-episode format, with the final two episodes ("Into the Valley of the Shadow" and "The Long Paddock") airing on 31 January 2009^[2] with original cast members Rachael Carpani and Sonia Todd returning for the special event.

The final season began airing in the UK on the Hallmark Channel (now Universal Channel) on 12 October 2008 with double episodes every Sunday morning from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. The final two episode aired in the UK on Sunday 21 December 2008, a month before the episodes aired in Australia.^[3] The show continues to air repeat episode on the Universal Channel weekday mornings at 6.00am, usually only seasons 6-8 in rotation. In Germany the final two episodes aired on 4 November 2008 in a German-dubbed-version, what is actually more than one month before airing in the UK in the original language.

In Ireland, RTÉ Two began airing the final season in mid-2010, with the final episode airing early 2011. This was the first time season 8 had been shown on the channel, as RTÉ had long period gaps between each season. In early 2011, the channel began airing the series from the beginning.

Cast[link]

Main cast[link]

Recurring cast members[link]

Production[link]

Locations[link]

A hotel in Freeling, is painted as the "Gungellan Hotel" for a set in McLeod's Daughters.

Locations in Gungellan:

• Drovers Run – Drovers Run is the main setting for the show. Drovers Run has been in the McLeod family for years, passed down to father, son, and now daughters. Claire McLeod, Tess McLeod, Jodi McLeod and Grace McLeod all have run Drovers Run along with part owners Stevie Ryan and Regan McLeod.
• Killarney – Killarney is also known as the Ryan Empire. At the start of the series Harry Ryan owned the property, and as he grew older his sons Alex and Nick took over. After Nick and Tess married, marrying then left to run a ranch in Argentina. Alex ran Killarney for a couple of years, until his biological father (Bryce) became part owner of the property. On Bryce's death, half-brother Marcus became part owner of the property. In the final years of the show both Alex and Marcus own and run Killarney, although Alex became a largely absentee owner as he also began to spend much of his time on the ranch in Argentina.
• Kinsellas – Kinsellas is a local farm that was run by Sandra Kinsella from 2003–2006. The name was changed after Heath Barret bought it.
• The Local Pub – The Local Pub is where everyone goes for a drink after a hard days labour. Becky worked there in 2001, Jodi worked there briefly in 2005 and Tayler also worked there briefly in 2007. The pub is most likely the only pub in Gungellan.
• The Truck Stop – The Truck Stop is where most of town buy their supplies and when they need fuel. It was first owned by Ken Logan then Harry Ryan. When Harry was owner Terry Dodge managed it then Moira Doyle, Later on Moira and Regan McLeod went into business supplying the fuel, Phill Rakich was the last owner.
• The Town Hall – The Town Hall is where most major events are held, such as the Miss Gungellan contest, plays, and the town's birthday celebration.
• Fisher – Gungellan's closest neighboring town.

McLeod's Daughters is filmed on location at Kingsford, a 35-acre (55ha) propertyon the outskirts of Gawler. Gawler is one hour north of Adelaide, which Posie Graeme-Evans refers to as "our very own backlot". Kingsford was originally part of a 30,000-acre (12,245ha) property, Kingsford has been used in recent years by the South Australian Government as a wheat research starion. The property was purchased by The Nine Network in 1999. The Historical house was built from Edinburgh sandstone, transported to Australia as a ship ballast. The house took over 30 years to build and was finished by 1856. The producers of McLeod's Daughters were thrilled to have a location. Although Kingsford was a grand property at the time, it is now quite run down - a look that was important for the production design of the series, as the McLeod family has no money for maintenance.

The interior scenes set at Drover's Run are all, in fact, filmed inside the house. It added authenticity to the production, and it was convenient in that the large rooms and high ceilings were ideal for filming. Kingsford was a working farm in its day.^[4]

Filming[link]

The show was shot on Super 16mm film,^[5] and is the first Australian drama series to be delivered in HDTV format. Three cameras were used, two on main unit and the third on second unit. The cinematography is vast and in composition is beautiful. Director of phototography, Roger Dowling had masterfully created the illusion that the series is shot on 200,000-hectare property in the Australian bush, instead of on a heritage estate, the size of a hobby farm, one hour north of Adelaide.^[6]

Ratings, rank and fans ranks[link]

Home Video[link]

For further information on each individual release, see the relevant season article.

VHS[link]

DVD[link]

Sony Pictures has released the entire series on DVD in Region 4.

In Region 1, Entertainment One has released all 8 seasons on DVD.

All 8 seasons and the complete boxset have been released on region 2 in other countries not Ireland or UK. The original pilot TV movie has also been released separately in other countries.

Merchandise[link]

Music From McLeod's Daughters[link]

Three volumes of McLeod's Daughters: Songs from the Series were released. They were composed by Chris Martin with vocals by Rebecca Lavelle.

Logie Awards[link]

McLeod's Daughters has been nominated for, and won, numerous Logie awards. Lisa Chappell won "Most Popular New Female Talent" in 2002 and Aaron Jeffery was awarded "Most Popular Actor" in 2004. McLeod's Daughters was nominated in 2008 and 2009 for "Most Popular Australian Drama" and Simmone Jade Mackinnon was nominated in 2008 and 2009 for "Most Popular Actress".

Broadcast[link]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Country	Name	Network/Channel	Start Date	End Date
Asia	McLeod's Daughters	Universal Channel (formerly Hallmark Channel)
Australia	McLeod's Daughters	Universal Channel
		Nine Network	8 August 2001	31 January 2009
		GEM
Austria	McLeods Töchter	VOX	January 2006	2009
Belgium	McLeod's Daughters	VTM		2011
		Hallmark Channel	-
Brazil	As filhas de McLeod
Bulgaria	Дъщерите на Маклауд	Universal Channel
Canada	McLeod's Daughters	Vision TV Series Plus(in french)
Spain	Las hermanas McLeod	Sony Entertainment Television	20 July 2009	25 jun 2010
Catalonia	Les germanes McLeod	TV3
Croatia	McLeodove kćeri	HRT		2 August 2010
Czech Republic	McLeodovy dcery	CT1	February 2008	November 2008
Denmark	McLeod's Daughters	Kanal 4
Estonia	McLeodi tütred	Kanal 2
		Kanal 11
Finland	McLeodin Tyttäret	YLE TV2
		Hallmark Channel
Galicia	As irmás McLeod	TVG
Germany	McLeods Töchter	VOX	19 January 2006	4 November 2008
Greece	Οι Κόρες του McLeod	ET-3	September 2009	27 July 2010
Hungary	McLeod Lányai	M1, M2
		Hallmark Channel
Ireland	McLeod's Daughters	RTÉ One
		RTÉ Two	2003	2011
Israel		Hallmark Channel
Italy	Le Sorelle Mc Leod	-
		Rai Uno
Kuwait	McLeod's Daughters	KTV2 National Channel
		Kuwait TV2
Latin America		Hallmark Channel
Lithuania	Makleodo dukterys	LTV	February 2009	27 January 2010
Latvia	"Makleoda meitas"	TV3 Latvia
Malaysia	McLeod's Daughters	Hallmark Channel
Namibia			-
Netherlands			-
		Net 5	2001	3 August 2009
New Zealand		TV2[7]	Between 2001–2003	12 February 2009
Norway		TVNorge
Poland	Córki McLeoda	Hallmark Channel
		TVP2	March 2009	March 2010
Philippines	McLeod's Daughters	Hallmark Channel
Portugal	As Irmãs McLeod	SET Portugal
Romania	Fiicele lui McLeod	Hallmark Channel
Russia	Дочери Маклеода
Serbia	McLeod's Daughters
Singapore
Slovenia	McLeodove hčere	RTV SLO (only Season 1) and Hallmark Channel
South Africa	McLeod's Daughters	Hallmark Channel[8]
Sweden	McLeods döttrar		-
		Kanal 5
Switzerland	McLeods Töchter	3+	September 2006	2009
		VOX	January 2006	2009
United Kingdom	McLeod's Daughters	Universal Channel (formerly Hallmark Channel)		21 December 2008

See also[link]

• McLeod's Daughters (TV movie)
• List of Australian television series
• Station (Australian agriculture)

References[link]

External links[link]

• McLeod's Daughters at the Australian Television Information Archive
• Interview with the cast on WHO.com
• McLeod's Daughters at the National Film and Sound Archive
• McLeod's Daughters at the Internet Movie Database
• McLeod's Daughters at TV.com

Alex is a common English name, usually a diminutive of the male given name Alexander, whose female equivalent is Alexandra. The East European male name Alexey (Aleksei, Alexis) is also sometimes shortened to Alex.

People whose first name is Alex[link]

• Alex Chu, Korean-Canadian singer of Clazziquai
• Alex Ferrer), a Cuban-born judge currently residing in Miami, Florida.
• Alex James (musician), bass player for Blur
• Alex Harvey, Scottish rock musician
• Alex Konanykhin, Entrepreneur, former banker, former Russian oligarch
• Alex Sherman, Moldovan-born professional wrestler
• Alex Wagner, political analyst and MSNBC anchor

People commonly named or nicknamed Alex[link]

• Alex, German actor, singer and motorcycle racer

Footballers[link]

• Alex Cazumba, Brazilian footballer, currently playing for Los Angeles Galaxy
• Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa, Brazilian international footballer, currently playing for Paris Saint-Germain F.C.
• Alejandro Pérez Navarro, Spanish footballer, currently playing for Getafe CF
• Alessandro Del Piero, Italian international footballer, currently playing for Juventus F.C.
• Alex Raphael Meschini, Brazilian international footballer, currently playing for Corinthians
• Alex Morgan, American women's international striker, currently playing for the Western New York Flash
• Alessandro dos Santos, Brazilian-Japanese international footballer, currently playing for Urawa Red Diamonds
• Alexsandro de Souza, Brazilian international footballer, currently playing for Fenerbahçe S.K.
• Alex Stepney, England International goalkeeper, played for Manchester United F.C.
• Alexandre Gonçalves, Portuguese footballer, currently playing for F.C. Porto
• Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, English footballer, currently playing for Arsenal F.C.

Music[link]

• Alex, Danish singer
• Alex Lifeson, guitarist for Rush (band)
• Alex Van Halen, drummer for Van Halen

Fictional characters[link]

• Alex (Street Fighter), poster character from the Street Fighter III video game series
• Alex (Tekken), Tekken fighting game series
• Alex (comics), Marvel comics universe
• Alex (comic strip), British comic featuring Alex Masterley
• Alex, video game Golden Sun
• Alex (Madagascar), character in the film Madagascar
• Alex the Dog, the mascot of Stroh's Beer from 1984 to 1989
• Alex, character from Totally Spies!
• Alex Nuñez, a character in Degrassi: The Next Generation
• Alex, narrator of A Clockwork Orange
• Alex (Lost), recurring character in the hit television series Lost
• Alex Rider (character), main character of the Alex Rider series
• Alex Kidd, main character of the Alex Kidd series
• Alex Russo main character in the Disney Channel TV series Wizards of Waverly Place
• Alex Mack from The Secret World of Alex Mack which was a popular TV series during the 1990s

Places[link]

• Alex, Haute-Savoie, France
• Alex, Oklahoma, USA
• Alex (restaurant), Las Vegas, USA

Other[link]

• Alex (videotex service), by Bell Canada in the early 1990s
• Alex (sniper rifle), a Polish sniper rifle (Bor)
• Alex (1908 automobile), an early British automobile
• Alex (parrot), talking African gray parrot studied by psychologist Irene Pepperberg
• Alex Reader, an e-book reader
• Tropical Storm Alex (disambiguation), a number of named tropical cyclones

See also[link]

• All pages starting with "Alex"
• Alexander
• Alexandra (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Ryan may refer to:

Places[link]

Australia

• Division of Ryan, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland
• Ryan, New South Wales

United States

• Ryan, California
• Ryan, former name of Lila C, California
• Ryan, Iowa
• Ryan, Minnesota
• Ryan, Oklahoma
• Ryan Park, Wyoming
• Ryan Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

Film, radio, television and web[link]

• Ryan (film), an animated documentary
• Ryan (TV series), 1970s Australian TV series
• Von Ryan's Express, a 1965 World War II adventure film

Other uses[link]

• RYAN, Russian acronym for Raketno-YAdernoe Napadenie ("Nuclear Missile Attack") intelligence operation
• Ryan Aeronautical Company (Claude Ryan)
• Ryanair (Tony Ryan)
• Ryan International Airlines (Ron Ryan)
• Ryan International School
• Ryan-Pitman Theory (Black Sea deluge theory)
• Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan
• Ryansdóttir, Icelandic patrynomic for daughter of Ryan

People and fictional characters[link]

• Ryan (surname), a surname (includes a list)
• Ryan (given name), a given name (includes a list)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Alex Riley
Riley at the 2010 Tribute to the Troops
Ring name(s)	Alex Riley[1] Carson Oakley[1] Kevin Kiley[1][2]
Billed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[3]
Billed weight	236 lb (107 kg)[3]
Born	(1981-04-28) April 28, 1981 (age 31)[4][5] Fairfax Station, Virginia[4]
Resides	Tampa, Florida[1]
Billed from	Fairfax Station, Virginia[2] Washington, D.C.[3]
Trained by	Florida Championship Wrestling[1]
Debut	October 30, 2007[1]

Kevin Robert Kiley, Jr.^[1][4][5] (born April 28, 1981)^[5] is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Alex Riley. He is signed to WWE^[3] and he was a part of the second season of NXT.

Professional wrestling career[link]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE[link]

Florida Championship Wrestling (2007–2010)[link]

Riley following a match in January 2010

In 2007, Kiley signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to their developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). On October 30, 2007, he debuted in a losing effort to Shawn Osbourne under his real name Kevin Kiley, and later faced off with wrestlers like Sebastian Slater and Jack Gabriel.

In September 2008, he changed his ring name to Carson Oakley.^[6][7] As Oakley he began teaming with Scotty Goldman, and the pairing unsuccessfully challenged TJ Wilson and David Hart Smith for the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship in November.^[8] In early, he underwent another name change, calling himself Alex Riley and developing the gimmick of a university jock, wearing a Letterman's jacket to the ring.^[6][9][10] He gained Beverly Mullins as a manager, and to fit with his jock gimmick, Mullins adopted the gimmick of a prom queen.^[10]

In 2009, he joined FCW General Manager Abraham Washington's cabinet, being called Washington's "top draft pick", and as a result, was named the number one contender to Tyler Reks' FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship in July.^[11][12] In August, he lost in a triple threat match including Reks and Johnny Curtis. In mid-2009, he competed in several dark matches prior to Raw and SmackDown, wrestling against Jamie Noble, Montel Vontavious Porter and Jimmy Wang Yang, and also appeared at house show.^[1][9] On the August 30 episode of FCW, Riley dropped Mullins as his manager, calling her "dead weight".^[11]

On March 18, 2010, Riley defeated Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett in a triple threat match to win the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship. After his title win he called out Barrett and paid him for his services as a hired help.^[13][14] At the July 22 FCW tapings, Riley lost the title to Mason Ryan in a triple threat match, also involving Johnny Curtis.^[13] At the television tapings on September 22, Riley faced Ryan in a rematch, but lost by submission.^[15]

Alliance with The Miz (2010–2011)[link]

On June 1, 2010, The Miz announced that he would be mentoring Riley for the second season of WWE NXT.^[16][17] He made his NXT debut on the June 8 episode, but did not compete in a match.^[18] He made his in-ring debut on the following edition of NXT, defeating Kaval.^[19] Kaval returned the favor two weeks later, by pinning Riley in a six-man tag team match. Later that night, Riley was ranked fourth in the first poll.^[20] In the second poll on the July 27 episode of NXT, Riley moved up to third place, behind Michael McGillicutty and Kaval.^[21] On August 9 the rookies appeared in a six-man tag team match on Raw, in which Riley teamed with Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty to defeat Lucky Cannon, Kaval and Percy Watson.^[22] The following night however, Riley's team lost a rematch, and he slipped to fifth place in the poll, narrowly avoiding elimination.^[23] Riley was eliminated from NXT in the season finale on August 31, ending up in third place overall. After Kaval was announced as the winner, Riley and the other eliminated rookies attacked him.^[24]

Riley (left) with The Miz at WrestleMania XXVII.

He appeared on the September 6 episode of Raw, when he tried to help his mentor The Miz, who had been placed in the LeBell Lock submission hold by Daniel Bryan, but ended up being placed in the hold himself.^[25] He appeared again the following week, replacing The Miz in a submission match against Bryan, but lost.^[26] On the September 20 episode of Raw The Miz announced that he had signed Riley to a 'personal services contract', allowing Riley to accompany The Miz to ringside and continue to appear on Raw.^[27] As The Miz's protégé, Riley interfered in his matches, including at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view, where Riley unsuccessfully attempted to help The Miz's team win.^[28] The Miz also used Riley as a replacement for himself in matches, which led to Riley facing and losing to John Cena on November 15 and Ezekiel Jackson in a King of the Ring qualifying match on November 22 as a result.^[29][30] The following week, Riley interfered in the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWE Championship between Jerry Lawler and The Miz, who had won the championship the week prior. Riley stopped Lawler from winning twice, before Lawler put him through a table.^[31] He helped The Miz to retain the championship again at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a Tables match, during which he was put through a table by Randy Orton.^[32]

On the February 28 episode of Raw John Cena challenged Riley to a match where if Cena won, Riley would no longer be The Miz's apprentice. The Miz accepted the match on Riley's behalf, and later that night, Cena and Riley faced off in a steel cage match. Riley lost the match despite interference from The Miz.^[33] The angle was used to write Riley off television as he was scheduled to be sent back to Florida Championship Wrestling to be repackaged.^[34] Despite this, Riley appeared on the March 14 episode of Raw, interfering in The Miz's match against The Great Khali.^[35] The following week, Riley announced that The Miz had re-hired him, this time as The Miz's VP of Corporate Communications.^[36] He accompanied The Miz to his match at WrestleMania XXVII against Cena where he interfered several times, throwing Cena into an exposed turnbuckle, attacking him with his briefcase, and distracting the referee.^[37]

Singles competition (2011-present)[link]

Riley in 2011.

As part of the 2011 supplemental draft on April 26, Riley was moved to the SmackDown brand, separating him from The Miz.^[38] He debuted on the April 29 episode of SmackDown, interrupting Randy Orton but having an RKO performed on him before he could speak.^[39] Despite being drafted, Riley continued to appear on Raw, alongside The Miz. On the May 2 episode of Raw, The Miz chastised Riley for not being present at Extreme Rules the previous night, when The Miz lost the WWE Championship to Cena.^[40] Riley appeared alongside The Miz at the Over the Limit pay-per-view, where he attempted to help The Miz win his "I Quit" match against Cena, but The Miz was unsuccessful and failed to regain the WWE Championship.^[41] The following night on Raw, The Miz fired Riley, blaming him for his lack of success in regaining the WWE Championship. After being slapped by The Miz, Riley attacked him before leaving thus turning face in the process.^[42] The following week, Michael Cole announced Riley had been rehired by the Anonymous Raw General Manager, and he returned to Raw, as in storyline he had not been eligible to be drafted as he was under contract to The Miz, not WWE. Following an argument, Riley attacked Cole, before chasing away The Miz who had tried to attack Riley from behind.^[43]

On the June 6 episode of Raw, Riley teamed with John Cena to face R-Truth and The Miz, with Steve Austin as the special referee. Riley and Cena won the match, but the decision was reversed by the Anonymous Raw General Manager, after Stone Cold had physically assaulted The Miz during the match.^[44] On the same show, it was confirmed that Riley would face The Miz at Capitol Punishment.^[45] At WWE Capitol Punishment, Riley defeated The Miz.^[46] The following night on Raw, Riley would team with John Cena and Randy Orton to take on The Miz, R-Truth and Christian in a six-man tag team elimination match. Riley was the first person eliminated, but his team went on to win the match regardless.^[47] At Money in the Bank, Riley competed in a Money in the Bank ladder match, which was won by Alberto Del Rio.^[48] The following night on Raw, Riley was one of the eight men placed in the WWE Championship tournament, losing to The Miz in the first round and ending their feud.^[49]

On the August 1 episode of Raw, Riley began a feud with Dolph Ziggler, beginning with a verbal confrontation.^[50] Riley and Ziggler faced off the following week, with Riley winning by disqualification after Vickie Guerrero, Ziggler's manager, slapped him.^[51] On the August 15 of Raw, Riley lost to Jack Swagger, due to interference by Guerrero.^[52] Riley defeated Swagger in a rematch the following week, after Swagger was distracted by Guerrero and Ziggler arguing at ringside.^[53] At Night of Champions, Riley competed in a fatal four-way match for the WWE United States Championship, which also involved Ziggler, Swagger and John Morrison, in which Ziggler retained his title.^[54] In October, Riley suffered a hip injury that would leave him inactive for several weeks.^[55] For the remainder of 2011 after his return, Riley would be largely relegated to Superstars and house shows, defeating the likes of Drew McIntyre, JTG, and Leo Kruger.^[56]

In 2012, Riley would suffer a 14-match losing streak, losing to the likes of Brodus Clay, Lord Tensai, and Heath Slater.^[57] Riley also entered the 2012 Royal Rumble as the second entrant and was eliminated first by The Miz.^[58] Riley ended his losing streak on the May 2 episode of NXT when he teamed with Tyson Kidd to beat JTG and Johnny Curtis.^[59]

Personal life[link]

Kiley's father was a sportscaster for ESPN and his mother is a former Miss Virginia.^[3] He has a younger brother.^[4] Kiley attended Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, VA, where he played both football and basketball.^[4] He then went to Boston College, where he majored in communications.^[4] He played for the Boston College Eagles, the football team, initially as a quarterback, before becoming a linebacker during the 2001 season.^[4][60]

Kiley was arrested in Tampa, Florida on November 17, 2010, at 1:14 a.m. on charges of driving under the influence, after refusing to be tested.^[5][61] He was released at 9:33 a.m. on a $500 bond.^[5][61] Kiley was also charged with driving with a suspended license.^[62] The charges were dropped in June 2011 after a judge ruled there had been no grounds for a traffic stop.^[63]

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • You're Dismissed^[1][2][60] (WWE) / Hit the Showers^[1][64] (FCW) (Fireman's carry cutter)^[19]
  • Lifting DDT^[65][66] – 2011; used as a signature move from 2012–present

• Signature moves
  • A-Bomb (Fall forward diving facebuster to an opponent in the corner, with theatrics ^[67][68] – 2012–present or an elbow drop, with theatrics^[69][70] – 2011)
  • Back suplex side slam^[1]
  • Game Changer^[70] (STO)^[68]
  • Hip toss neckbreaker^[71]
  • Leaping clothesline^[72]
  • Running dropkick to an opponent leaning through the ropes^[73]
  • Sitout clothesline^[72]
  • Stinger splash^[74]
  • Super hip toss^[75]

• Managers
  • Beverly Mullins^[10]

• Nicknames
  • "The Varsity Villain"^[60]
  • "A-Ry"^[76][77]

• Entrance themes
  • "Say It to My Face" performed by Downstait and composed by Jim Johnston (May 30, 2011–present)^[78][79]

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Florida Championship Wrestling
  • FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[13]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #106 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011^[80]

References[link]