I lied to you. This graph is neither shiny, nor was it expensive. In fact, it took me five minutes to whip this P.O.S. together for this thread. You're welcome.
Below is a handy graph I made up, displaying my general level of interest in the Ryback character as well as my predictions for its projections in the near future, as it relates to the crowd reaction from televised events. Observe:
As you can see, it took awhile for the WWE Universe to catch on to the Ryback character. The two-man jobs were impressive, but not altogether flashy or overly entertaining. They were just kind of...there. But by Hell in a Cell, WWE had put so much stock in Ryback, that everyone loved him! People were pumped to see what WWE was going to do with his character, and how they would keep CM Punk looking strong as the WWE Champion; it created a lot of much-needed buzz in the annual pro wrestilng down period.
The problem is, WWE then executed a really lame shady referee angle. And how did they follow that up? Three weeks later, he got eaten alive by Ryback, and hasn't been seen since. Basically, it showed that WWE has no long term plans for the main event success of Ryback. They were just using shock and awe for the sake of shock and awe. They never quite figured out how they were going to keep the belt off him, but still make him look dominant, while keeping the streak intact. You can't do it. It's impossible. Goldberg 101 says "don't put him up against the World Champion, you idiots".
Next up is Survivor Series. I was marginally still interested because Ryback was still dominant, and John Cena somehow made it all a bit more fun heading into the PPV. And then, WWE pulled another angle out of their ass. They debuted The Shield, and had them screw over Ryback. Don't get me wrong, I love the NXT3. Each and every one of them brings something long-term to the WWE product, and I am very excited to see how they are used going forward. But the BIG problem I have with their debut, is it once again handed Ryback another loss.
Next month we get TLC. Ryback isn't going to win the WWE Championship. Which means, no matter how they do it, Ryback is going to lose. Again. It is extremely likely - as many dirt sheets have been reporting - that the Shield will get destroyed by Ryback, while Punk uses the distraction to retain.
1) This Shield gets destroyed.
2) Ryback loses.
3) Punk goes on to face the Rock at the Royal Rumble
It's all for the good of Punk's title reign, obviously. But at what cost? They've basically bait-and-switched Ryback for the The Shield. But if Ryback beats the hell out of them, we just have two entities getting sacrificed for the good of a title run that's probably going to run out of steam in January. Or maybe Punk retains; that's not the point.
With three back-to-back-to-back PPV loses for the Ryback, can he ever maintain legit main event credibility? I said back at Hell in a Cell, I didn't mind Ryback losing, because his character was NEVER going to be as big as it was that night. And if it's all about "feeding" CM Punk in the end, then fine. But what's left in the aftermath? Is Ryback just another character? Because to me, he's too big to just fall back into the regular roster. He's too much of a dominating presence to get tossed into the midcard. And he's going to QUICKLY run out of main event talents to feud with.
So my questions are three:
1) Will Ryback EVER again reach the height of popularity he had attained going in to Hell in a Cell?
2) Is going over The Shield at TLC a good, or a bad direction for the WWE product?
3) What does Ryback's career look like going into 2013? 
