The Living Receiver
Certified Nobody
1) Will Ryback EVER again reach the height of popularity he had attained going in to Hell in a Cell?
In my not so humble opinion, NO. Ryback was pushed too far too fast and it will ultimately result in the character being unsuccessful in the long term.
A heel turn may be the only thing I can see that may help preserve him at this point. His shtick is already growing stale and his third straight PPV loss will render him largely ineffective to the casual fan.
I will admit my thoughts come from a place of bias, as I cannot stand the character and find him dull and insufferable, but I do believe this will be how things play out long term. The WWE could have gotten a lot more mileage out of the character, but they booked him all wrong.
2) Is going over The Shield at TLC a good, or a bad direction for the WWE product?
Bad, Bad, Bad! These three guys need to be protected.
They may not end up being anything in the long run but right now, the sky is the limit for these three and the worst thing that creative could do to hurt there chances of success is feed them to Ryback.
These three could have long term value, something Ryback absolutely does not have, case closed here, it's a bad idea.
3) What does Ryback's career look like going into 2013?
Mid-card city, maybe he'll take Khali's spot of being the giant who just shows up to beat down jinder mahal and Heath Slater on Smack down to fill time.
Wishful thinking aside though, I would say he will likely get into some sort of "Monster killer" series or something. Maybe a series of feuds with giants like Show, Kahli, Kane, Clay, etc.
I could see something interesting with him and a returning Mark Henry at 'Mania maybe, that could be interesting.
This time next year though, I suspect he will nowhere near the top of the card.
In my not so humble opinion, NO. Ryback was pushed too far too fast and it will ultimately result in the character being unsuccessful in the long term.
A heel turn may be the only thing I can see that may help preserve him at this point. His shtick is already growing stale and his third straight PPV loss will render him largely ineffective to the casual fan.
I will admit my thoughts come from a place of bias, as I cannot stand the character and find him dull and insufferable, but I do believe this will be how things play out long term. The WWE could have gotten a lot more mileage out of the character, but they booked him all wrong.
2) Is going over The Shield at TLC a good, or a bad direction for the WWE product?
Bad, Bad, Bad! These three guys need to be protected.
They may not end up being anything in the long run but right now, the sky is the limit for these three and the worst thing that creative could do to hurt there chances of success is feed them to Ryback.
These three could have long term value, something Ryback absolutely does not have, case closed here, it's a bad idea.
3) What does Ryback's career look like going into 2013?
Mid-card city, maybe he'll take Khali's spot of being the giant who just shows up to beat down jinder mahal and Heath Slater on Smack down to fill time.
Wishful thinking aside though, I would say he will likely get into some sort of "Monster killer" series or something. Maybe a series of feuds with giants like Show, Kahli, Kane, Clay, etc.
I could see something interesting with him and a returning Mark Henry at 'Mania maybe, that could be interesting.
This time next year though, I suspect he will nowhere near the top of the card.