It's been about two months since Ryback & WWE "parted ways" as WWE.com put it. After a contract dispute, the Big Guy went home and three months later, he was released. He explained on his Tumblr that his grievances revolved around a lack of equal pay for talent and creative frustration. Just like Damien Sandow, WWE managed to waste Ryback's potential in a big way. I've been meaning to write this for a while now, but you know...stuff happens. So let's get into this.
It's Feeding Time
Back in April of 2012, Ryback debuted on SmackDown, beating a jobber with ease. For the next six months or so, the Big Guy would continue to run through everyone from local talent to jobbers, racking up 38-wins in a row. Eventually, he even started taking on 2 guys at once and still winning with total ease. And at this point, Ryback was crazy over with the crowd. His "Feed Me More" chant got over huge, his merchandise was selling big, and he was one of the most popular guys on the roster at the time. WWE had gotten a potential main eventer handed to them on their hands, and it would literally take a royal f*ck up to ruin it. And that's exactly what happened.
The Beginning of the End
You see, Ryback's rise to the top came at a rather unfortunate time in WWE. John Cena had gone down with an injury before Hell in a Cell and WWE needed a new person to challenge CM Punk for the WWE Championship. Enter Ryback, who was thrust into the main event WAY too early in his career. Like I said, Ryback was only six months into his run in WWE and the most credible person he had beat at this point was the Miz. And besides, everyone knew Punk would retain. They had already built up the match at the Royal Rumble that was still three months away at this point between Punk & The Rock, so the odds of them taking the title off of him until then were pretty slim.
At Hell in a Cell, Ryback suffered his first loss to CM Punk in a Hell in a Cell match, thanks to a low blow from referee Brad Maddox. Now, losing one pay-per-view match doesn't kill a guy's momentum, especially when he loses due to outside interference. However, WWE thought it was a good idea to have Ryback lose not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six straight pay-per-view matches. I'm not even joking.
At Survivor Series, Ryback got another shot at the WWE Championship in a triple threat match with Punk and Cena, only to be screwed yet again by the debuting Shield, who helped Punk retain again. Ryback was set to get another shot at the WWE Championship at TLC, but Ryback ended up injuring Punk during a brawling segment he was instead put into a 6-Man TLC Tag match with Team Hell No (Kane & Daniel Bryan) against the Shield...which they lost. Ryback got his third shot at the WWE Championship on the January 7th episode of RAW, only to be screwed yet again by the Shield, allowing Punk to retain.
Now we get to the Royal Rumble, where Ryback managed to make it to the final 2, but it was obvious that WWE was building to Cena vs the Rock 2, so Ryback got tossed out by John Cena.
Ryback would face off with the Shield again at Elimination Chamber alongside Cena & Sheamus, but lost yet again, this time taking a clean pinfall loss. And after that loss, Ryback went on to feud with Mark Henry. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 29, where Henry not only dominated the majority of the match but won after (get this), Ryback picked him up for the Shell Shock, only to collapse under Henry's weight and get pinned. Now, it would have made sense for the younger rising star to get the win over the aging veteran, but I guess not everything makes sense in wrestling. And sure, Ryback got his heat back after the match, but the damage had already been done at that point. While fans were still cheering for him, it was clear that taking so many losses in a row hurt his appeal. It was going to take something big for people to start taking him seriously.
It Just Gets Worse
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| Don't let that picture fool you, it doesn't get any better from here. |
The night after WrestleMania 29, Ryback turned heel and attacked WWE Champion John Cena. Kind of makes him losing at WrestleMania 29 make even less sense. After the heel turn, Ryback stopped doing all the stuff that made him popular, including the Feed Me More chant, which killed his popularity with the crowd. Ryback got another title shot at Extreme Rules in a Last Man Standing match, which ended in a draw after Ryback drove Cena through the mini-Tron and both men were counted out. Ryback would get one last shot at the title, facing Cena in a Three Stages of Hell match at the inaugural Payback, but...you know:
That marked eight straight pay-per-view losses for Ryback and this last one marked the end of his main event run in WWE.
The Rest
I feel like "The Rest" is all you can really say about Ryback's run in WWE after Payback 2013 because nothing of note really happened. After his feud with Cena, Ryback FINALLY got another pay-per-view win at Money in the Bank 2013, almost one year after his last one, against Chris Jericho. He would go on to become a Paul Heyman guy for only two months and lost two more pay-per-view matches to CM Punk. Following that, he formed a largely forgettable tag team with Curtis Axel called "RybAxel." They got a few Tag Team Championship opportunities, but they pretty much just existed. Ryback went down with an injury, came back as a face, and fought with Team Cena against the Authority at Survivor Series 2014. He eventually snagged an Intercontinental Championship reign, but that was largely forgettable as well. Ryback went through more meaningless feuds before finally parting ways with WWE after his loss to Kalisto on the Payback 2016 pre-show.
And Now We're Here
Ryback might not have been the best wrestler or the best on the mic, but that doesn't change the fact that WWE had built him up as a big star, only to drop the ball big time with him. They made the mistake of putting Ryback in the main event too soon in his career. He was well over with the crowd, only to have that popularity crushed when he turned heel. By the time he had gotten the Intercontinental Championship, it was FAR too late for him at that point. Ryback is truly a great example of WWE wasting the potential of one of their wrestlers.
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