Alex Riley was released from WWE in 2016, and looked to make a transition into the world of acting. He managed to land a small role as Steel Horse in the first season of the universally-acclaimed Netflix show GLOW, which ended up being more high-profile than anything he did during his entire run in WWE.
We talked to Riley at the GLOW premiere and he was extremely thankful for the role, and understood what a big break it was. But what we didn’t know was that there were some other wrestlers up for the role before Riley landed it. Not just other wrestlers, but WWE Superstars with plenty of acting experience under their own belts.
On Chris Jericho’s latest podcast, he talked to the “Beatdown Biddies” themselves, Kimmy Gatewood and Rebekka Johnson, who were real-life best friends who somehow managed to get cast on GLOW as best friends. Also along for the ride on the GLOW-themed episode was Chavo Guerrero, who trained the actresses for the show.
During the interview, Jericho revealed that he himself had tried out for the role of Steel Horse, and dropped a little old-fashioned shade Riley’s way in passing. (Transcript via Cageside Seats.)
“[WWE] had a show in Edmonton and I don’t really like to audition, just not really my thing … they said ‘I got this thing for GLOW,’ and I’m like that sounds pretty cool, cause I don’t do anything cause I have to… I was like I like GLOW, so this will be fun. So I actually set up my little, uh, phone in the dressing room in Edmonton after a show in a room by myself and I auditioned for Steel Horse.
“And I didn’t get it, and not only didn’t I get it, but Alex Riley got it, who’s about a one on the scale of wrestling notoriety … ”
Guerrero further revealed that Jericho wasn’t the only current WWE Superstar to be passed over for the role: The Miz auditioned to play Steel Horse as well. Chavo believes Riley secured the role by going all-out and auditioning in full costume (which I assume doesn’t mean the T-shirt and jeans that Steel Horse ends up wearing in the actual episodes). I guess that Miz’s protege finally got one up on him after all.
