Wrong-Way Ryback

[Mustang Sally]

Has the true story of why this guy was demoted been revealed yet?

A match like last night's Smackdown contest against Sheamus seemed as if it would have been booked on a PPV not too long ago. Two great big guys, both having fought for the world title..... you might think would have been a bigger deal, no?

Instead of a featured match, it's tossed into a free weekly show......and Sheamus goes over cleanly by pinfall. At the very least, I would have thought Sheamus-Ryback would be a series of matches with uncertain endings, culminating in a clear win by one or the other.

What happened to Ryback? Did his big mouth backstage and in social media cost him the good will of his bosses? Has he not developed in the ring as well as they hoped? Or was he elevated only because an opponent was needed to challenge Punk for the championship and no one else was available at the time, giving Ryback an opportunity without having really earned one?

One thing seems certain: having shown up in his Ryback persona less than two years ago (April, 2012), his career should be at a point where he's still growing, learning and achieving.....rather than in full decline.

What happened?

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

WWE completely killed Ryback's career.

His match with Big Show should've happened at WrestleMania, instead they have it on RAW and have Big Show kick out of the Shell shock like it was nothing.

WWE Creative are killing careers on a weekly basis. Damien Sandow, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, R-Truth, Tensai, Brodus Clay, Darren Young, Titus O'neil, the list goes on and on.


They're burying them so bad, it's going to be extremely hard to ever take them serious in the future.


I hope someday WWE really suffers and starts losing viewers.

Vince McMahon doesn't know anything anymore, it's like he wants to kill his own company before he dies (similar of when he brought nWo in 2002 to "kill" his company)

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

This is Ryback's win/loss record since debuting in 2012:

Hell in a Cell 2012 - CM Punk def. Ryback
Wrestlemania 29 - Mark Henry def. Ryback
Extreme Rules 2013 - John Cena vs Ryback (No-contest)
Payback 2013 - John Cena def. Ryback
Money in the Bank 2013 - Ryback def. Chris Jericho
Battleground 2013 - CM Punk def. Ryback
Hell in a Cell 2013 - CM Punk def. Ryback & Paul Heyman
Survivor Series 2013 - Mark Henry def. Ryback

He has only won 1 out of his 8 PPV matches since debuting in 2012 (excluding his matches with jobbers and tag-team matches).

Seems like WWE never wanted to push Ryback in the first place. Rybaxel is a decent team though.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

IF the various reports that've been put out are accurate, Ryback has issues that the company hoped he'd improve upon as time went on. For instance, there were a lot of allegations of Ryback being too stiff and downright clumsy too often at house shows. There were also reports of Ryback essentially acting like a dick when interacting with fans at meet & greets and that he had no interest in doing media interviews to help promote the company.

It's true that some wrestlers have been hurt in matches with Ryback, including CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler. That's not to say that the injuries sustained couldn't have happened in any other situation with any other wrestler on the roster. Still, if such things had been happening more frequently in matches involving Ryback than others on the roster, he was told about it & asked to work on it and he ultimately didn't, then the heat's understandable. If he acts like a disinterested jerk who doesn't want to be at the meet & greets then, again, that's just something he had to get over. Being a top guy in WWE also means that you're going to have to interact with the media to help hype and promote the company. If he's unwilling to do that, then he doesn't deserve a push.

I'm glad that WWE didn't rush to slap the title on him, as some really wanted to see happen. If they had, then I don't think it'd be long before Ryback would be getting comparisons from fans to lame duck champions of the past like Jack Swagger or Rey Mysterio. WWE wanted to see what he was able to bring to the table in the long run before giving him a title run, which is exactly the right way to go in my opinion. When Brock Lesnar came to WWE the first time, he was WWE Champion within 3 months of his TV debut. They rushed to give him this massive push and, in all honesty, Lesnar looked as though he deserved it. He was heavily over, had a killer look and was genuinely entertaining in the ring. Heyman being his mouthpiece didn't hurt either. However, look what happens after he gets this big push: he was also gone about 18 months later because he couldn't take the intense schedule and simply didn't have the kind of dedication that one needs.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

IF the various reports that've been put out are accurate, Ryback has issues that the company hoped he'd improve upon as time went on. For instance, there were a lot of allegations of Ryback being too stiff and downright clumsy too often at house shows. There were also reports of Ryback essentially acting like a dick when interacting with fans at meet & greets and that he had no interest in doing media interviews to help promote the company.

It's true that some wrestlers have been hurt in matches with Ryback, including CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler. That's not to say that the injuries sustained couldn't have happened in any other situation with any other wrestler on the roster. Still, if such things had been happening more frequently in matches involving Ryback than others on the roster, he was told about it & asked to work on it and he ultimately didn't, then the heat's understandable. If he acts like a disinterested jerk who doesn't want to be at the meet & greets then, again, that's just something he had to get over. Being a top guy in WWE also means that you're going to have to interact with the media to help hype and promote the company. If he's unwilling to do that, then he doesn't deserve a push.

I'm glad that WWE didn't rush to slap the title on him, as some really wanted to see happen. If they had, then I don't think it'd be long before Ryback would be getting comparisons from fans to lame duck champions of the past like Jack Swagger or Rey Mysterio. WWE wanted to see what he was able to bring to the table in the long run before giving him a title run, which is exactly the right way to go in my opinion. When Brock Lesnar came to WWE the first time, he was WWE Champion within 3 months of his TV debut. He was also gone about 18 months later because he couldn't take the intense schedule and simply didn't have the kind of dedication that one needs.

Yeah but that way they won't be able to create any new stars on the level of guys like Brock Lesnar, Batista, John Cena and even Sheamus. These guys became stars because WWE pushed them as stars from the start.
Ryback losing pretty much every match hurt his credibility. Now nobody can/will take him seriously as a main-eventor.

 

[The Eighties]

As far as his pushes go he's suffered from a severe case of "Wrong place, wrong time" as both title feuds he was put in were ones he couldn't possibly win. He was never going over Punk as the plan for Punk vs Rock was not going to be changed, and then he was put directly into a program with Cena when he turned heel, but since Cena had just won the title for the first time in 18 months there was no way Cena could lose his first feud as Champion.

On the other side of things he has had too many gimmick changes and seems to be difficult with the media stuff and sloppy in the ring, not really progressing as a worker at all.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

And just wait as his career is still to have the "honour" of jobbing in seconds to the Warrior at Mania... you know it's coming... he knows it's coming and bizarrely it may play into the Punk situation too... If you spend 2 years putting a guy over, him stealing your spotlight and he "looks like they want guys to supposedly look" then you'd be a bit pissed off if they kill his career...

Ryback has had 7 years in the system with that small break... he was in developmental for years then the main roster and there has been almost zero improvement... he only got a push cos of what they had already invested in him... Mark Henry improved enough to warrant keeping around and eventually hit his sweet spot after more than 10 years on the roster but he had to learn "on the job" bar that stint in OVW and he was working with the Cena's, Orton's, Brocks etc then... so no wonder it worked out well when it did. Ryback won't get that cos basically everyone who has come up in the last 3 years, and waiting to come up is better now than he is after all this time... Even Brodus and guys like that.

If he's a dick etc to boot, then yeah job him to the Warrior for lulz and boot his ass to TNA. They'll take him in a hearbeat and he'll take it so he can be "a star".

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Yeah but that way they won't be able to create any new stars on the level of guys like Brock Lesnar, Batista, John Cena and even Sheamus. These guys became stars because WWE pushed them as stars from the start.
Ryback losing pretty much every match hurt his credibility. Now nobody can/will take him seriously as a main-eventor.

Which is exactly what they have done with the Shield, Wyatt, Ryback and Del Rio.

The issue isn't "creating stars" they have them in abundance. The issue is finding guys who can translate into mainstream commodities, who can be memorable to casual wrestling fans. You ask a wrestling fan who John Cena, Undertaker, Triple H or Sheamus is and they know, a casual might know Sheamus but will likely have heard of the other 3...

Ask them who Ryback is and they'll say "who?".

WWE has started to get some guys with that mainstream knowledge in Bryan and Punk, but they're not guys they WANT to have that cos a) they have persona/careers that are not WWE exclusive or created and b) have an independent mentality, they will not be "owned" in the way WWE want.

WWE is struggling to find new main eventers with that mainstream appeal and who are willing to be owned in that way... Ziggler lost his push partly cos he signed on for a movie. His contract obviously didn't prevent it, but he may not have "gone through proper channels" so when Max Landis announced him it meant WWE couldn't and that Vince may not have gotten the exec producer credit he loves so much when a WWE guy is in a big movie.

In Ryback's case there is so little about him to engage the casual fanbase that it's almost embarrasing WWE ever thought they could get him over as it seems to be purely about his look. That just adds fuel to the fire for guys like Punk who can say "If YOUR template creation can't get over with all your push and Bryan (or I) am, how dare you hold the smaller guys back?"

 

[Blade]

I'm not entirely sure what happened. Back in 2012, WWE kinda booked themselves into a corner, like they do so often. Ryback was the undefeated beast who had gotten over. CM Punk was the most interesting and longest reigning WWE champion we'd had in years.

Problem was, who ever was the champion going into the Royal Rumble was going to face the Rock. The Rock had to face a major heel and save the WWE. Punk was that heel. Which meant they had to screw Ryback out of the title somehow. TLC drew strong numbers for a B PPV, but Ryback was never quite the same after that.

And then WWE made the biggest mistake of all, they made Ryback lose to Mark Henry at Wrestlemania 29. Even though they knew they were turning him heel the next night to feud with Cena over the WWE title. If you book someone like that, of course they're going to suffer.

That's what we know about the rise and fall of Ryback from an on-screen perspective. Off screen, all kinds of rumours have flown around for the last year. Ryback has an ego or an attitude. Punk and Cena feel like he's unsafe to work with. He's batshit insane. I've heard all those stories.

Whatever happened backstage that made WWE push Ryback down the card, we can only go by what we've seen. Ryback may have had problems backstage, but WWE also played their part in screwing up the booking.

Although, it doesn't bother me all that much because Ryback kinda sucks.

 

[Im4Ryback]

I agree with the idea that he was given 1 match with sheamus last night on smackdown should of been enough they should have had him fued with sheamus and have a series of matches with the uncertain endings and they would have been a good match to decide who wins at wrestle mainia but no. I believe wwe have stuffed Ryback up not only physically but mentally. He has been as was stated earlier it was mentioned that they put ryback in the title match against cm punk just to put punk more over before the match with the rock and the fact that they couldn't find anyone else for the position. WWE have been there own worst enemies going on about lossing viewers well they are making these Crappy one sided matches that no one watches and to top it all off they make the most ridiculous story lines and turning the wrong guys heel like ryback. Since he has been a heel it has all gone down hill ever since he lost to john cena he has been just looked at by wwe as useless. To top it all off he hasn't won many PPV matches which was also stated earlier he only beat Chris Jericho at the money in the bank PPV 2013. Which is out right ridiculous which is why I have been asking for weeks for him To get a decent match but I guess WWE doesn't listen to their fans. So I am no longer paying for crappy PPVs that my favourite wrestler isn't in or free television show that he has crappy bad ass matches. It needs to stop now I would like to see him take on the taker at mainia and that probably won't even get him back over. He has been ruined to know end so I understand his frustrations WWE only have them selves to blame (this is the same kind of stuff that drive cm punk away also good on punk for walking away) I will not be watching any more PPVs or free tv based wrestling show until this improves. But I see it won't so i mid as well just not watch at all good bye wwe and enjoy stuffing up more WWE super stars. BYE BYE!! FEED ME MORE.

 

[lil steroid meat]

Assuming it's the clumsiness of his in-ring work.

Either way, this guy is gold with the Bully gimmick. The backstage bullying of smaller guys, the Twitter trolling, riding around on Instagram blasting his own theme music 24/7 and yelling at fast food workers. When he's let free on the mic unscripted and not reading off of a teleprompter, he's gold.

Should definitely be a top heel. This is really where WWE benefits from having no real competition because Ryback would be a STAR if given the chance. I remember reading that's he's actually been in the WWE in developmental and shit for like 10 years, so I don't know how much longer he has to be in his prime.

He definitely shouldn't be being in pointless tag matches and being jobbed out.

 

[bioshock]

WWE completely killed Ryback's career.

His match with Big Show should've happened at WrestleMania, instead they have it on RAW and have Big Show kick out of the Shell shock like it was nothing.

WWE Creative are killing careers on a weekly basis. Damien Sandow, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, R-Truth, Tensai, Brodus Clay, Darren Young, Titus O'neil, the list goes on and on.


They're burying them so bad, it's going to be extremely hard to ever take them serious in the future.


I hope someday WWE really suffers and starts losing viewers.

Vince McMahon doesn't know anything anymore, it's like he wants to kill his own company before he dies (similar of when he brought nWo in 2002 to "kill" his company)

Very well said and all true. Its wwe shooting its self in the foot over and over, they had Swagger go almost a year plus losing every single match, so much that he was losing to Santino on a weekly basis on Raw. Then out of nowhere were suppose to think hes a legit contender for Del Rios WHC at Wrestlemania no less? Fans don't forget how bad the guy looked, with no build up whats so ever, he was ruined and still is. This was all after building him from the ground up in ECW to winning MITB and the WHC.

Ryback hes been buried, Sandow who was built up winning the MITB, isn't much above Swagger on the food chain. And Ziggler who was once THE GUY where Bryan is at right now, remember last years WM29? People were bitching because they wanted Ziggler to either cash in and main event, or cash in and win the belt at WM29. They even chanted Ziggler in the WHC match while booing. And now look. He hardly gets the chants he once had, and WWE keeps on burying him.

I don't really remember in the past when so many talented wrestlers have such a fall from grace. What ever WWE is doing they are as bad as it gets building up talent.

Its like if WWE were a baseball team, say the Angels with Mike Trout, as a example, while he was having a near MVP like season after being called up early in the season, by September a player returns from injury so they demote Trout all the way to pinch hitter, and by the next season they send him back to the minors. Instead in real life, Trout is called up, has a MVP like season, and he keeps his job as the starter. WWE and Vince just don't have a clue.

And Ryback has been ruined. A guy that big, that strong, his look. All he had to do was just win the matches hes suppose to win, and lose to some of the stars while looking strong, maybe some DQ losses. Instead WWE just has him jobbing to everyone under the sun. Losing tag matches to wimpy teams doesn't make him look any better.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Wow. Unless I skimmed past it, nobody on here blamed the FANS for Ryback's de-push! You know, with that incessant "disrespectful" chanting of "Goldberg" during his matches and all?

I don't know why people have a hard time with this, but not EVERYONE can get pushed all at the same time. So yeah, Ryback is losing all of his matches now. So what?

What's funny to me is that I actually find Ryback MUCH more entertaining since he's been losing on the undercard than when he was losing in main events.

He used to just be some kind of cyborg/wrecking machine chanting "feed me more" , now he actually makes me laugh with some of his toolish douche antics.

I don't think he's "done" by any stretch. He's doing what he's told to do and he's making the best of it. As long as he doesn't really piss off the higher-ups, I could see him back to winning matches and moving up the card. And I think the fans will be into him more then because he's been paying his dues, unlike when he first came in and got hot-shotted into main programs.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I think we can forget about any future plans for Ryback in the main event. In fact, I'll be shocked if WWE pushes him into the WWE WHC picture in the future. Maybe he'll get a spot in the MITB match, but that's about it.

Character wise, Ryback is in a deep hole right now. That match with Sheamus on Smackdown had some potential to be a real show stealer (I almost jumped out of my chair, when Ryback countered the Brogue Kick into a powerbomb) over Orton VS Christian. But WWE had to use Ryback as a tune up guy for Sheamus, so he could look strong going into the Chamber match.

Just think of the downward spiral. He was this intimidating force, who was built up as a threat to end CM Punk's reign. He had the feud with The Shield for a while, and he lost to Mark Henry at Wrestlemania 29. The illogical heel turn was a colossal mistake, because a. Ryback's promo skills are sub-par at best, and b. everyone knew he had no chance to take the title off of Cena.

The bully character had some potential, but Ryback wasn't intimidating. Instead of a nasty bully, he was some goofy oaf from an 80's comedy. He was the type of guy the scrawny nerd had to beat up to prove himself. And Ryback as the next Heyman Guy was a failure, because he had to lose to Punk again. Now he's in a dead end tag team with Curtis Axel.

Although, if Ryback is complaining about work outside the ring, if he's careless in the ring, hurting other wrestlers, and he doesn't care enough to work on his issues, and if he's being a dick to the fans, the it's hard for me to feel any sympathy for him. Ryback is at the bottom of the totem pole in WWE right now. He's sharing a few spots with Zack Ryder and Hunico, and he's going to stay down there for a while.

 

[chicagokmc]

I put most of the mistakes on WWE. As previously stated he had been around WWE and developmental for awhile, so WWE knew what they had in him. He was all look, without the mic skills to be that guy who can push WWE both in and out of the ring. This kind of guy should never have been given the unstoppable monster treatment because they knew he was most likely never going to given the WWE belt. Second, when he started running into the Shield, he went from being juggernaut to looking like a total wussie. I know the Shield push was important and wasn't going to be de-railed, but they should have just kept Ryback away from that. Finally, when they did turn him heel, I think they missed 2 opportunities. One, he should have been made a Heyman guy then instead of waiting to do it, this would have boosted the big trait he was lacking. Two, they should have found a way to give him at least a taste of that other heavyweight championship. That would have made some sense of all that time he spent as a bad ass, while keeping him away from the WWE title, which we know he was never going to get because of Punk/Rock/Cena.

I don't think WWE will do all of this, but I would keep him teaming with Curtis Axel, get these guys the tag team belts ASAP and give them a long run with those belts, and re-unite them with Paul Heyman. Maybe I'm just a Heyman guy but he seems to make wrestlers like this way more interesting.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Ryback is at the bottom of the totem pole in WWE right now. He's sharing a few spots with Zack Ryder and Hunico, and he's going to stay down there for a while.

Zach Ryder hadn't been on RAW for many months prior to getting squashed by Titus on RAW.

Hunico isn't even Hunico anymore, he's wrestling as the new Sin Cara. Prior to that he was just taking up a roster spot.

Neither are good comparisons to Ryback's spot.

When I said that Ryback could get another push, and be in title matches again, I didn't mean in the next 4-6 months. Right now he's jobbing because they have other things lined up heading to WM. This time next year it could be a totally different story.

Where is it written that if someone is booked to lose matches for an extended period of time, that they can't be booked to go over guys sometime in the future?

 

[ASKane]

Ryback's career was doomed from the start as he is a very limited guy and he got no protection at all so as soon as he was pushed out of the jobber crusher role his weaknesses were going to be very visible and that has been the case. WWE should have booked in a role like Reigns, put him in a team or faction and slowly increase his role from an impact wrestler to a high level wrestler. Reigns debuted a with below average in ring talent and was very green but has since improved massively because of the protection being in a faction gave him and after 15 months of working with and learning from Rollins and Ambrose he has become a very good in ring talent and is ready for a singles push either in the mid card or main event.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Zach Ryder hadn't been on RAW for many months prior to getting squashed by Titus on RAW.

Hunico isn't even Hunico anymore, he's wrestling as the new Sin Cara. Prior to that he was just taking up a roster spot.

Neither are good comparisons to Ryback's spot.

.................

Ryback is at the bottom of the totem pole in WWE right now. He's sharing a few spots with Zack Ryder and Hunico, and he's going to stay down there for a while.

You just proved my point.

I was never trying to compare career paths with Ryder and Hunico. My point was Ryback is slowly fading into obscurity, and if we're comparing status and rank in WWE, you could say he's in the same boat with Hunico, Ryder, and other scrubs on the roster.

 

[MCMG]

I don't think there is any one reason. He isn't someone who can effortlessly deliver high quality promos. He is apparently dangerous in the ring and his push came at an awkward time.

Ryback was getting over as a face. The "feed me more" chants were catching on and he was pretty entertaining. Then they decided to pair him with Punk during his 434 day title run. This was also about 3 months before The Rock was returning. Madness.

If they wanted Ryback to be a success then there were other ways to do it. They still had the World Heavyweight Championship and they could have put the belt on him. The belt doesn't make the guy but it he couldn't be any worse off then where he is now.

The Big Show was a heel champ and they decided to put the belt on Del Rio. There was also the fact Ziggler had his MITB contract. Ryback could have defeated Big Show at the end of 2012 and had a short run as champ before a feud with Dolph. If Ryback was to succeed then that would have been an alternative direction for him.

I think it is clear that Ryback was never going to be a top star. However, he had momentum and was a decent face at the start of his run. The WWE tried to make it work (pairing him with Heyman) but it was never meant to be. For what it's worth, I think he should have been given the World Heavyweight Championship for a few months. If it doesn't work, so be it but it was worth a shot.

Rybaxel could be a pretty good tag-team and Ryback is becoming pretty entertaining on Twitter. Let's hope that can shine through a bit more on TV.