Ryback's Response to Punk on Radio Station

[DCLXVI]

So "The Big Guy" was asked about the Punk situation in a radio interview and handled it really well. If you watch his normal media interviews he is pretty reserved and does not act like a "steroid meathead". He's a physical freak who weighs 300 pounds and Punk is 215 pounds. I have also seen Punk be stiff as fuck on many occasions. I don't think he intentionally broke CM Punk's ribs because he cares too much about his spot. Look at the guys Jack Swagger for example has injured.

He was being pushed to the moon and back (which Punk probably resented, based on his physique and Goldberg-esque push) then eventually reduced to heel tag jobber with Curtis Axel (who Punk is fond of, but we all know will never draw a dime) and stuck around and got past it.

He's also a huge mark for the company, often bringing up how much he cared about Razor Ramon as a kid. From comments I've seen him make he is also very compliant with Vince McMahon and sees him as the boss and respects him. In his comments he said Punk never said any of this too his face, and he was disturbed that Punk was going behind his back and saying disparaging things to Vince.

Yes the guy has said a lot of out there shit on twitter, but I won't get into that. (EAT, POST, DELETE).

Ryback mentioned every job has its bad points but Punk should appreciate what WWE did for him and he hopes he comes back sometime. He also mentioned he's in there all the time with guys like Cena, Ziggler, etc. and they wouldn't have him there if he was out to hurt people.

Fans of both guys but I was kind disappointed Punk tried to bury him on Ryback's "return push" that Ryback has done his best with.

What do you guys think?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't believe that Ryback intentionally set out to hurt anyone, but I think there are too many claims of him being reckless and careless to just ignore. Injuries can happen to anyone at anytime, that's very true, but being careless only ups the chances of someone being injured.

It wouldn't surprise me if CM Punk was somewhat resentful of Ryback. Not saying he was or that he wasn't, it just wouldn't surprise me if he was. Like a lot of internet fans, Punk doesn't seem to be a fan of guys with the bodybuilder type of physique and that's understandable to some degree. Vince has an idea of what he believes a star "should" look like, which means Vince's opinion is generally the only one that really matters in the end. However, I also think that Vince's preference for a wrestler to have a certain type of physique has been pretty heavily overblown by the internet over the years because if it wasn't, I doubt CM punk would've ever gotten his foot in the door. Most of the big names in WWE haven't been these massively muscled powerhouses. At the same time, it also doesn't automatically mean that a guy is a low caliber worker if he happens to be built like a brick shithouse. After all, how often have we seen a guy automatically be condemned by internet fans as only being there because Vince likes his look without them even giving him a chance?

In Ryback's case, however, I don't believe he was ready for the push he was getting and there were a number of reports suggesting that he himself had a pretty lousy attitude backstage. He reportedly didn't like hyping the product to local media and treated fans like crap at meet & greet and autograph sessions. Going by these reports, it seemed like he was enjoying the big push but wasn't all that keen on the additional work that went with it.

 

[rge2010]

Ryback took the high road with this interview and for that I applaud him - a classy move.

If Punk didn't say anything to Ryback then it shows him for the 'man' he really is. And Ryback is correct, he did put Punk over. Ryback lost his undefeated streak to Punk - at the time it was a major win for Punk in his title run.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Yes, Ryback did take the high road here... as opposed to when he's on twitter. Good on him for that.

Whether or not he's being honest? Who's any of us to say. Punk says he called him out on being 'hurty'. Ryback says that Punk never said a thing to his face. Who's lying here? Because someone is. The only people who would know for sure are Punk and Ryback.

Did Punk 'resent' Ryback's push? It's hard to say. I agree with Jackhammer that Punk may have resented it on some level since Ryback has the stereotypical McMahon look that gets pushed to the moon, whereas Punk has the type of look that ensured he had to work harder, and eat more shit along the way to get himself to the moon. That's human nature, so if Punk did have some resentment for Ryback, I get it.

But from Punk's interview, I never got the impression that he resented working with Ryback initially. He may have not felt that Ryback was ready for that spot (and if you go back to posts here back then, most agreed), but there wasn't resentment over it. His problems with Ryback seemed to grow the more he worked with him, and the more hurt he got because of working with him. That's natural. Wrestling is a business where they're supposed to create the illusion of hurting each other. They aren't supposed to be doing it for real. Sure, accidents happen because in the process of creating that illusion, the reality is that wrestling is still an extremely physical and taxing profession. But when accidents keep happening repeatedly, are they still accidents? Are they intentional? Or is someone just very bad at their job?

I don't think it's intentional on Ryback's part. But these accidents happen with more people than just Punk, and they happen too often to just ignore or brush off. I even saw a rumor somewhere that Triple H was supposed to work with Ryback, and then mysteriously called it off. Is it because he is well aware of how dangerous Ryback is in the ring, and while he doesn't have a problem subjecting others to that danger, he won't subject himself to it? If so, that speaks volumes about a lot of things.

Good on Ryback for sticking it out through the tough times. He got the short end of the stick when they pushed him too far, too fast, at a time where there was no chance of him going over (if Rock isn't coming back for the last part of the Cena program, than maybe... but they weren't doing a Rock/Ryback match at the Rumble, and Rock was always winning the title there). Hopefully he's learned to calm down in the ring and work properly. Working stiff is fine. There's been lots of stiff workers in history who didn't hurt people. Repeatedly hurting your opponents though, isn't a sign that you're a stiff worker. It's a sign that you don't know how to work properly.

 

[kadroan]

Good for Ryback. No need for him to feed into the negativity. He probably won't have a decorated career like Punk had but atleast he can be happy while with the WWE

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Ryback and the WWE seem to take the high road. Punk continues to sound like a whiny bitch. He has honestly always seemed like that. Punk seems like he was the kid standing outside hot topic telling everyone how their taste in everything sucked. Because he was good enough for a career in pro wrestling, it seems like he's never had to "grow up".

 

[Mustang Sally]

However, I also think that Vince's preference for a wrestler to have a certain type of physique has been pretty heavily overblown by the internet over the years because if it wasn't, I doubt CM punk would've ever gotten his foot in the door........In Ryback's case, however, I don't believe he was ready for the push he was getting and there were a number of reports suggesting that he himself had a pretty lousy attitude backstage.

There's often a tendency to dismiss Vince McMahon's grasp of today's product; many folks seem to presume he no longer has his finger on the pulse of the industry. Some of that might even be true, yet it's probably wrong to dismiss him entirely. As the previous poster said, how would a CM Punk have made it if Vince was interested only in large wrestlers with sculpted physiques? In the end, talent is going to matter, as it should.

Yet, every time we turn around, another Ryback turns up on our doorstep. You take one look at him and can figure what got him before our eyes so quickly. Ryback (Sheffield) did his time in Nexus and received no more fanfare than did Justin Gabriel or Heath Slater, yet we should have known he was going to get a singles push once the braintrust deemed him ready.

As with others, I've also read the negative reports about Ryback's attitude during his first singles push.....and can say only that if he's being more careful with the physical welfare of his opponents in the ring.....while doing better in interviews, even showing some diplomacy instead of a prima donna attitude.....it's a good thing and makes me want to root for him this go-around.

Plus, the fact that Phil Brooks has decided to grace all of us by finally opening his mouth.....albeit with potshots that can't be disputed face-to-face by the people he's criticizing, maybe it will quiet a lot of the folks on this forum who have taken a pro-Punk attitude, seemingly presuming everything he did was right and everything WWE did was wrong.

After all, life is seldom that clear-cut, is it?

 

[Dave]

I didn't hear the radio show with Ryback but at least he isn't burying his head in the sand and pretending that it didn't happen. I mean, so many times the WWE have told their talents to just act like nothing happened, rise above it and try to move on. So it's refreshing to see someone put his head above the parapet and take him on.

Still, I am with the majority of people who think that Ryback doesn't intentionally go out to hurt people. If that were the case, there is absolutely no way that he would in the company; no one would want to work with him. People make mistakes all the time, it just seems as though Ryback has been unfortunate with those botches. But look at AJ Styles right now, for a better example. How many necks has he broken at this point? 3? 4? I wouldn't go as far as to say that Style is intentionally breaking people's necks and I wouldn't like to think that Ryback is intentionally hurting people.

I think what is more likely, is that Punk broke his ribs in a wrestling match with Ryback and then went on to resent everything about him. Listening to the podcast with Punk, I felt as though he deemed himself to be untouchable and that is the wrong mentality to have. No one is bigger than the business and I genuinely feel as though Punk felt as though he was. I don't think he liked to lose and I know that he didn't really want to put people over. He can say whatever he likes about his reasoning but at the end of the day, Punk wanted to the guy in WWE and putting people like Ryback over was the last thing on his mind at that point. So much resentment has built up towards the guy now that Punk will never forgive him or even like him.

 

[MartialHorror]

Honestly, I dont think CM Punk tried to bury Ryback...mostly. The only part of his interview involving the Big Guy that seemed petty was the steroids potshot, which I actually wondered if Punk regretted based on the awkward pause and quick justification (although it's possible Cabana made a face, which Punk responded with "I call it like I see it").

I don't think Ryback intentionally hurt him, but it's obvious he was reckless and did hurt CM Punk twice. Punk made a comment about not receiving an apology and I think it was all at a bad time. Everyone is either too quick to support Punk or damn him, but it's obvious that there is no single reason. Punk wasn't in good shape when he had his Ryback program, which only made it worse. Of course he's going to be bitter and make conclusions based on the consistency. To claim that Punk resented him for his push is baseless and total speculation. The only potential evidence for it is how Punk seemed somewhat annoyed with Reigns' push, but even that is unclear.

Nevertheless, Ryback's interview was better than I thought he would be. He was pretty cool about it, although has he gotten better? There was a rumor he was pretty rough with Cesaro.