The rise and hard fall of Ryback

[Mouthy Idiot]

Maybe im just an idiot or a sucker but I will never understand what has taken place with Ryback. I have been trying to figure out what the hell happened that caused him to end up where he is currently. All I know is that in 2012 Ryback was pushed like a fuckin monster. Blowing by everyone and creating a buzz in the WWE. The fans were chanting Feed me more, the wwe appeared to have a future leader of the company on its hands. This guy appeared to be the future and definetly a world champion main event player. Ryback mania overtook the internet and wrestling websites. Heading into the Royal Rumble 1 year ago I really thought he was gonna win the Rumble. But NO Cena had to win it again for the second time officially. Cena had already co-won with Batista one year ,, then finished like 2nd another time. And yes I know Batista was declared the winner but still Cena doesn't need to win any more Rumbles and Ryback should have won it last year.


Back to my point , on the road to wrestlemania he started feuding with Mark Henry and again silly me I assumed like most people that Ryback would be booked to win over an older less potential for the future Mark Henry. Shockingly Ryback lost clean and ever since has been turned heel and into a whiny loser jobber. I will never understand why. Its never been explained by any wrestling website or even Meltzer or any of those WWE journalists why exactly he was completely ruined. I don't get it , I want an answer as to wtf happened behind the scenes to cause this reversal. I have 3 or 4 theories as to what might have happened. Theory number 1.. John Cena and Orton and CM Punk and those other big shots got annoyed that Ryback was getting pushed to the moon and complained to Vince and Hunter and they decided to fuck him over to appease the stars. Theory 2... Ryback failed some wellness policy or something and was punished by it. Maybe WWE kept it under wraps. Theory 3.. Ryback pissed off Vince somehow and is paying the price. Theory 4... The Goldberg chants were becoming a concern and they decided to end the comparions by turning him into a heel jobber.

I just don't know what went wrong or what happened. Its almost like he did something so disrespectful backstage one night or something and they decided to ruin him for good. They must salvage him soon or hes gonna be ruined permanently.If anybody has a good theory or backstage info please fill me in I would love to know why Rybacks push was killed. They even teased turning him face again earlier when Paul Heyman dissed him on Raw. Then Nothing happened and hes now in a heel jobber tag team with Axel. I know hes about to feud with Big E Langston but I bet he jobs to Langston as well. Its just sad what happened. Maybe people were booing him at house shows I don't know.

 

[Septumus]

Ryback was placed into a feud for HiaC against CM Punk who couldn't lose because he had to lose to The Rock at the rumble. The undefeated monster lost a chunk of his momentum and a lot of people stopped caring. Cena won the RR to set up Cena-Rock Twice in a lifetime and a #1 contendership another way wouldn't have worked near as well.

Ryback not going over Henry is weird but he still got the shellshock and stood tall afterwards. Ryback then went against new WWE Champion John Cena and once again, no one thought he would win. Then Heyman stuff happened, where once again he couldn't beat Punk because no one would believe it now. A chain of losses on PPV since HiaC '12 spelled his fate.

As for why, it's that in the 10 years since Tough Enough season 4 he is still just as Green now as he was then and has gone on record saying he doesn't want to interact with fans or attend any public events for WWE. Being reckless/sloppy in the ring and refusing to do what your bosses ask you to do and speaking out about it to the public, which brings attention of an unwanted kind to WWE, it is really no mystery to why Ryback is the place he is.

 

[Wald]

He got over at absolutely the wrong time and creative didn't do him any favours when he did. That's your answer.

He was monster over at a time when CM Punk was on his Best In The World heel run and needed someone fed to him (forgive the pun) until the Rock came back. The Rock needed that title to add a little something extra to his match with Cena and Cena needed to win the title to try to repair some of the damage done to him by losing to the Rock at WM28. For that reason the path to Wrestlemania was always going to be Punk dropping the title to the Rock so he could drop it to the Royal Rumble winning John Cena at Wrestlemania.

Ryback got over so much at absolutely the wrong time as he was deemed a good opponent to Punk to sell PPVs until the Rock came back. It couldn't have been Cena and we'd seen Punk vs Bryan already that year, so it couldn't have been him either. Now, you may say there's never a bad time to get over to that extent but I'd disagree, it's not his fault but is his bad luck that he did.

That said, creative should have known that a monster face like Ryback wouldn't be able to survive not being able to beat Punk in consecutive PPVs, it completely destroyed his gimmick, and so maybe shouldn't have booked him against Punk at that time. Again though I think Ryback's bad luck pops up here. He got over as a monster face at a time when it was destined for Cena to win the title in a few months. Cena isn't going to beat the Rock at Mania for the belt and drop it at Backlash or any PPV shortly there after. Plus, they wouldn't want Cena going up against a face wrestler in Ryback if the winner is also still going to go up against a face wrestler in Daniel Bryan at Summerslam (and Bryan was more over than Ryback). It just doesn't work. So they turned Ryback heel to take on Cena, but the problem with creating a monster heel character is they have to destroy their next few opponents or it doesn't work. It didn't happen with Cena, nor should it have, and so Ryback's monster heel character was dead on arrival.

The only solution I see would have been to have Ryback lose to Punk once due to massive interference by the Shield. Insert Ryback into the Wrestlemania six man tag with Orton & Big Show vs the Shield and have Ryback turn on Orton after they have lost out of frustration. In the next few PPVs have a heel Ryback defeat Orton & Big Show and then see where you can take him. I still think he's come along at the wrong time though, the top of the WWE card is pretty stacked at the moment and it's hard for anyone that isn't called Daniel Bryan to break into it.

 

[berlinbrawler]

The downfall of Ryback came about mostly by bad timing methinks. Everything was fine when he was still squashing everyone at the WWE's undercard. But then the Hell in a Cell PPV approached in 2012 and the WWE title challenger, John Cena, got injured and had to be replaced. That's when they had Ryback over night bypass the entire midcard and put him straight into the main event.
It was way, waaaaay too early for him to enter that scene. He wasn't ready. The fans weren't ready. Ryback had a nice undefeated streak going and it got sacrificed because Punk dropping the belt to the Rock at the Rumble had been carved in stone for months already.
So here Ryback was, playing with the big boys too soon, undefeated streak no more. Matter of fact from that point on he got defeated at every PPV he appeared on. He should have been squashing all the midcarders left and right, instead he was losing to the brass. This damaged Ryback beyond repair and ultimately led to him being in the sorry state he is in now. My theory.

In other words: It's all Cena's fault.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It's pretty simple what's happened to Ryback, if all the various reports concerning him are accurate.

Ryback was given a big push in a feud against CM Punk over the WWE Championship. Ryback looked like a beast in his matches against Punk and WWE used the feud as a means to further the notoriety of The Shield. Over the course of his feud with Punk, his subsequent feud & heel turn against Cena and his following programs, he didn't impress WWE officials with his progression in the ring or on the mic. I had no personal complaints about Ryback all in all, I thought he was pretty decent on the mic and his matches against Punk & Cena were physical and competitive.

I think what ultimately hurt Ryback, however, were concerns about him being careless in the ring almost from the moment he arrived back on the main roster. For instance, Punk suffered a knee injury during his program with Ryback that could have put him on the shelf and ruined WWE's plans for Punk vs. The Rock. Injuries can happen to anyone at anytime in wrestling but, allegedly, multiple wrestlers had voiced concerns over perceived sloppiness on Ryback's part. Another major issue is that, allegedly, Ryback behaved like a shit while interacting with fans and doing media interviews. Reportedly, Ryback didn't like talking to the media or interacting with fans during public appearances.

I know it's almost ALWAYS fashionable to say that creative is to blame or that WWE didn't "use him right" or something along those lines. Not to say it's not true sometimes, as it is, but it's become a crutch that a some fans, and wrestlers themselves, like to use much too often. Ryback was given a strong push and a major opportunity to prove himself. In some people's minds he succeeded and in the minds of others he didn't. It's possible that timing was an issue as well but, look at the options at the time. CM Punk was the most over heel in the company at the time and was someone that'd been delivering high quality for WWE for several years. He had a program lined up with The Rock that helped the Royal Rumble draw close to 600,000 buys, according to gerweck.net, which is the most ordered Rumble since the early 2000s. WWE was hoping that Cena vs. Rock II for the title would be another major draw and, frankly, it was. It wasn't one that I was particularly interested in, given that we all knew how the match was going to end, but it still helped WrestleMania earn over a million ppv buys for the third straight year. In business, you don't risk throwing away guaranteed big money on an experiment unless you're absolutely, rock solid sure in your assessment that said experiment has the goods.

Besides, if Ryback had become WWE Champion, it wouldn't be long before Ryback got more of the "Vince only likes big guys" nonsense, another favorite crutch for a good portion of the IWC no matter how inaccurate it is. The instant that Punk & Ryback had their stare down backstage, signaling the beginning of their feud, you already had people clamoring for Ryback to be champion without even having shown whether or not he was even ready to be champion. Just because a guy is champ doesn't mean that he's "ready" to be champ or that he even should be. Just look at the ill-fated WHC runs of Jack Swagger & The Great Khali as a good example.

 

[capnwillie]

I try to be as constructive as I can with my criticisms, usually, but I'm going to diverge from that right about now and just say it: Ryback sucks. Top to bottom.

I was about 10 years old when the Ultimate Warrior became popular and like most other 10-year-olds, I ate that up. I was almost 20 when Goldberg became popular, and that was okay but Stone Cold was on the other channel with a similar look and a far better persona. I'm 36 now and watching Ryback just reminds me it's time to take a leak or do some chores around the house. I don't care if he's in a match against CM Punk, Daniel Bryan or the ghost of Lou Thesz.

Out of everything I've seen Ryback do, the only thing that ever left a lasting impression on me at all was his brief backstage encounter with Jared Fogel of Subway fame. "Feed Me More" in the context of that segment made me chuckle. Everything else makes me yawn.

The lazy-eye, looking like a smaller white version of Zeus from No Holds Barred/two forgettable 80's PPV main events. The "tough guy" promos delivered with all of the timing and impact of an understudy for the role of Henchman #6 from a 1998 episode of Walker: Texas Ranger. The charisma of my last bowel movement. The amazing ring skills of Bill Goldberg. What's not to enjoy? Add that all up with the fact that every report you read about the guy backstage paints him to look like a complete dick.

Future endeavor. TNA can take him, repackage him as Byrack or whatever "See I can be like WWE!" BS Dixie's limitless imagination can think of and it still won't bump the ratings up for them by even a decimal point. Bye.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Here's the thing with Ryback, there really is no getting around it.

He hasn't lived up to what was hoped for him all the way along... When he was signed as Silverback to developmental (I believe Steph spotted him and was his champion then) some years ago he didn't progress to the required level and was released eventually getting a 2nd chance as Skip Sheffield in NXT.

He then got injured and was out of Nexus before it even began fully and then was given a "can't miss" gimmick and push... yet he still didn't manage to do the required.

Once Ryback was semi established, the fact he was injuring opponents was becoming a major problem but it had been since his earliest days. WWE rolled out the red carpet push wise in spite of this, they heel turned him, put him with Heyman vs Punks... WWE HAS done a lot more with Ryan Reeves than with many other talents over the years to make it work when it wasn't. Think of guys in a similar position to Ryback, the next big things who got cut...

This isn't a Kennedy where you could argue he was hard done by to be released or that Orton and Cena nuked out competition rather than having legit concerns about his safety in the ring... This isn't a Daniel Bryan where he made a rookie mistake in PG and got rousted out for it. It's not a Bobby Lashley where backstage issues made him hate the company and this isn't a Muhammed Hassan where outside factors to the company all together outweighed the value (and excellence) of the character.

All of those guys were BETTER than Ryback after a lot less than 7 years in the company, they had more charisma, better skills and more potential as characters... but they all washed out. Ryback has had more opportunities than all of them but the truth is...

Ryan Reeves just isn't up to it. He's not WWE main event calibre and is not really even of the standard of the mid-card. There are guys in NXT now, who are better, more rounded and have more potential... but they don't have the "look" he has...

That and 6-7 years invested in him, mean he's been given every chance to be that level but he's the one who failed, not WWE.

His attitude has always been suspect, remember when DeMott punched him cos he continued to eat in spite of being told not to... it's that mentality that has got him to the doghouse.

This is Ryan Reeves not being good enough after 7 years of trying, not having the right attitude and not being what was envisioned for"Ryback"... They could have made Titus O Neil - Ryback or Mason Ryan and it may have worked better... The ONLY guy who has had more time to develop was Mark Henry but he was always a worthwhile member of the roster, even if it took over a decade for them to tap that main event potential, it was worth the wait when it finally happened... nice as that moment was for Henry, imagine it for Vince... Finally vindicating him and paying off that 10 year, $1m a year faith he initially put in Mark, that he'd made the right call sending back to developmental, and keeping faith when others said cut him... I can never see the upside of Ryback being worth the wait or being as fulfilling for the WWE brass.

Unfortunately his Twitter rants scream of a desperate man, trying to create some buzz so he can say "Hey, I'm getting hits, people are interested, let me shoot more" but if after 7 years he is still the same dangerous, sloppy worker that walked in to OVW and the only way he can be relevant or create buzz is Twitter... then it's time for the E to cut bait.

He could end up in TNA very easily and it might be a good move for both parties as he's young enough to build a career there but they're precariously placed... the money they have is probably better spent on a Matt Hardy or Shelton Benjamin who could help them develop new stars and talent... Ryback goes in with Kurt, Jeff or Sting and injures them? What happens to TNA?

Personally if he is to have ANY chance of ever being a top guy in the business I think he should head to Japan in the same way Vader and Bigelow did... where his stronger style will be appreciated more and he can actually learn more than he can in the E or TNA's set ups about being a wrestler first, monster 2nd. Both Bigelow and Vader came back totally different workers and built great careers from that time. Tensai didn't translate it back as well but there is little doubt his time in Japan was the best thing he ever did.

Vince "likes" big guys, but not big egos... Reeves has probably shot his mouth off a little too much, hurt one too many people and blown one too many opportunities for him to be taken seriously now. He'll hang around a bit, probably job out to Warrior at Mania and he'll be gone...

 

[Marshyishere]

Don't believe everything you read on the internet people.

Ryback was in the right place at the right time. That is the only reason he got a major push. Unfortunately the situation with Wrestlemania caused him to lose momentum, and the heel turn was his downfall. None of it was planned, but that is what happens in wrestling.

Watching Main Event today, just showed me that WWE is still working on his character and he is in line for a big push as a heel. All the twitter posts over the last week have clearly been a work, and the leaked stories of Ryback being a "mental case" and a "loose cannon" also have likely been fabricated by WWE as is evident by what happened on Main Event.

 

[laodaron]

Who doesn't fast forward on DVR when a Ryback segment comes on? THAT is the reason for the fall of Ryback.

 

[MCMG]

Ryback was great at first. He has a great look, presence and I thought he would do really well. It is clear, however, that he isn't great on the mic. He has had one or two decent promos but he simply isn't good enough. In the ring, he has put on entertaining matches - no doubt about that- however, he is reportedly a danger for those who work with him. Not good at all.

Ryback should never have won the WWE Champioship. There was never a right time and Punk, Rock, Cena were all better options. Truth be told, maybe if Cena gets injured a few months before then Ryback might have got a shot. However, Bryan had just split with Team Hell No and was prime for the push. Moreover, Orton hadn't been in the title picture in a while so that was the right fit. No space for Ryback.

People want to make it seem that Ryback is at the bottom of the barrel. A JTG or Zack Ryder which simply isn't the case. He has had several WWE title shots which is more than most can ask for. He feuded with CM Punk - one of the top guys in the company - and is now in a decent tag-team. Ryback will probably be on the WM card which is certainly an achievement. He deserves to be where is is based on talent. Ryback isn't in the same league as Cena, Punk, Orton, Bryan. He doesn't have the same potential as Big E, Reigns, Ambrose or Wyatt. He is a decent mid-carder. Maybe he could feud with a top superstar if there is a lack of an opponent but the IC/US/Tag titles is generally where he should be used.

A different career trajectory for Ryback is the World Heavyweight Title. At the start of 2013; Ryback was fairly over; Big Show (heel) was World Champ and Dolph had his briefcase. Of course history shows that Del Rio defeated Show; Swagger faced ADR at Mania and Dolph cashed in the next night on Raw.

I will say that maybe Ryback could have been used there. I don't think he should have but it is a possibility. Ryback/Show could have been worked with Ryback winning and hitting the shell-shock in a pretty awesome WM moment. Even Ryback vs Swagger/heel ADR or indeed Ziggler. I suppose the problem was Dolph had his briefcase so whomever was champ after Mania would lose and if they put the belt on him beforehand he would then lose at WM. A no win situation that was messed up even further when Ziggler got concussed.

I'm not saying they should have put the WHC on Ryback at WM29 because I don't think that was the best option but they wanted it to work for Ryback that was there opportunity. Losing to Henry wasn't going to help. Simply put, Ryback was never good enough to be WWE Champion and now he is never going to be a World Champ at all.

 

[Softcore Holly]

I would've put him in the IC title picture back then instead of the WWE title and Punk. It was actually pretty boring in the IC ranks during Ryback's push and getting the IC title would've continued his momentum while getting more interest in the title. It couldn't have been that hard to find another person to stall Punk until Rock showed up. And if he really was hurting people in the ring, well least his fall from grace wouldn't have been as drastic.

Also I'm pretty sure he was supposed to beat Henry at WM, but something went wrong during the finisher and they just ended it there rather then let him try again.

As for present Ryback, we've been seeing heat reports on him for months now but he still manages to get on PPVs and even get a win every once and a while, so I'm starting to wonder how true those reports are. Of course now he's going crazy on twitter so who knows anymore.

 

[boywithbluehanger]

The downfall of Ryback came about mostly by bad timing methinks. Everything was fine when he was still squashing everyone at the WWE's undercard. But then the Hell in a Cell PPV approached in 2012 and the WWE title challenger, John Cena, got injured and had to be replaced. That's when they had Ryback over night bypass the entire midcard and put him straight into the main event.
It was way, waaaaay too early for him to enter that scene.

I agree with just about everything in that quote except for that last sentence. It wasn't "waaaaay too early" for Ryback to be in the main event. Some guys just get there quicker than others. Some guys look the part and belong there. Some guys are quite over with the crowd, look the part, and should be there. It worked for heel Sheamus when he debuted. The problem wasn't timing because going into the HiaC PPV, CM Punk already had the championship for a very long time (close to a year or a little over) and Ryback was getting the loudest pops and had matches with the most audience participation. CM Punk was the top singles heel and Ryback quickly positioned himself as the top singles face (given that Cena has more of a 80/20 or 70/30 love/hate response from most crowds). Punk's reign was already enough to validate his importance and (in my opinion) went on too long. Ryback was the perfect guy to end his reign and NOT squash his own undefeated streak. The problem was that the creative team refused to change their decision to have Punk face The Rock early in 2013 for the belt. They saw that as more important than continuing the rise of Ryback. In the process, they destroyed his own accomplishments. I mean the guy literally got himself over by his "main event physique", his strength, demolishing multiple jobbers at a time, and chanting "FEED ME MORE!".

So I don't think it was too early for Ryback to enter the main event scene, it was just bad booking for them to keep the title on CM Punk when it was unnecessary.

 

[Mustang Sally]

We've all heard of the kid who skipped a couple grades in school because he was smart, but once he had a taste of being in a class with older students, he found himself shunned by those with a little more experience and better developed social skills.

This reminds me somewhat of Ryback. He was fighting two underweight stiffs at a time....then was "advanced" to a stupid feud against Jinder Mahal......and was suddenly thrust into the world title picture because CM Punk needed an opponent and everyone else was otherwise occupied.

I don't know what (if anything) his "skipping a grade" did to his attitude, but if he started believing himself to be the second coming of Bruno Sammartino, it might have led him to adopt the attitude that folks seem to be criticizing today. If he hadn't taken the "I must be great, otherwise why would they have advanced me so quickly?" stance, why would he be sending out those stupid tweets and possibly be bitching in the locker room about his individual problems rather than working as part of the whole? He hasn't accomplished enough in his career to merit those actions.

At any rate, it takes more than having a great look to make it as a top pro wrestler, and Ryback seems to be intent on proving it..... in a negative way.

 

[CaptainZaltan]

Theory 5: Ryback is a jackass. If the latest dirt sheet reports are to be believed, many backstage are of the opinion that Ryback is nuts. It may just have been a matter of Vince or someone else in a position of authority realizing that this guy was a ticking time bomb, and deciding to save the company some grief down the road by not putting all their eggs in Rybacks crazy basket. He may also be legitimately dangerous to work with, as other reports have suggested.

As much as I'm inclined to believe that certain persons in the WWE do actively work towards sabotaging the careers of rivals to maintain their own positions, I also have to acknowledge that maybe we simply aren't privy to all the facts surrounding a given wrestlers standing in the company. For example, maybe some people are just difficult to work with (or even outright assholes), which is why they are held back. Mind you, I have no idea if there is any validity to these claims about Ryback or his sanity, but his latest Twitter streak seems to suggest that there is.

 

[Pedigree1]

Rybacks failure to get over are mostly his own fault.. When he first appeared true enough dude was a legit beast,people were clamoring over him and was well on his way to superstardom. Its was his own fault for being so damn sloppy in the ring,Punk as well as various other superstars were complaining about his style and Ryback didnt seem to care about changing it up a little or lighten up.

Plus on Media tours and tours of the like,he was a major shit to the fans,and refusing to sign autographs and acting like a dick will do you no favors at all. Plus when you spend 7 years in developmental and still havent progressed,well it might not work out for you.. Granted he got injured not his fault at all on that one,but he still is the same guy he was years ago..

Now this one is not on him,but on the WWE! When the crowd starting Chanting Goldberg Golberg,right then and there the WWE and Ryback should have addressed that,but instead they ignored it.. That was a critical error IMO.. His recent twitter rants,are doing him no favors he just sounds like he has sour grapes in the end

 

[Thewweera]

I don't think there is any great conspiracy behind it. In my opinion, he got over at the wrong time. Because of the plans for the Rumble, Punk couldn't drop the title at HIAC. So after that, Ryback lost a lot of momentum. There has been a few poor choices in creative direction with him, but it's not like he's a jobber.