Recently officially departed from WWE was the “Big Guy” Ryback, who will now be using the “Big Guy” name as his new ring name for the independent scene. Ryback’s departure from WWE was finally confirmed, several months after Ryback asked to be sent home due to contract disputes and creative frustration. Having been a part of the company for more than a decade, Ryback decided to call it a day and let his contract run out. However, was there more potential to Ryback than WWE was able to get out of him?
Having first entered the company as part of the “Tough Enough” series, Ryan Reeves struggled to get his foot in the door and onto the main roster of WWE. After many years in developmental, Ryan was given the chance to appear on WWE’s new show called NXT as Skip Sheffield. While Skip and the seven other competitors were seen as “rookies” in the show, they would eventually be lined up for a much greater purpose following the finale of the first season. On the June 7th 2010 edition of Monday Night RAW, Skip got his first taste of main roster action. In one of the most shocking moments in WWE history, he and the other NXT competitiors invaded RAW and laid waste to all that stood in their way. It would be the start of the hottest WWE angle in some time, as Skip and the other seven “Nexus” members were elevated to a main event program. For Skip, this would last just two months. In August 2010, Skip broke his ankle in a house show match and he was then “banished” from the group. That seemed to be it for Skip’s grand debut on the main roster and three knee surgeries would put Skip away for some time. In April 2012 however, Skip would be back with a vengeance and with an appetite…
Now going by the name Ryback, the returning big man would begin feeling hungry as he returned to the main roster and gain quite the push. Getting over with the catchphrase of “Feed Me More” and building up a winning streak, Ryback was on the right tracks to becoming a star. He would then pick a fight with the Intercontinental Champion The Miz, which could have possibly given Ryback his first championship in WWE. However, an injury to John Cena changed plans significantly for Ryback. Instead of a program with the Miz, Ryback suddenly became the newest challenger to WWE Champion CM Punk, who was closing in on a near year-long title reign. After backstage drama about the main event of Hell in a Cell, Ryback was given the big match with CM Punk and for good reason. Ryback suddenly had gotten over to an insane degree, with Jim Ross’ excitement while briefly back on commentary helping to hype up the big man. He was over enough to be in the main event, which was not a problem at all. The biggest problem with Ryback being in the main event is that he was suddenly expected to be in much longer matches than usual. Due to how Ryback was pushed, with Ryback picking up quick win after quick win in a matter of minutes, Ryback had never been involved in a high-profile long main event match. There was a lot of work on both ends to deliver as well as the writers.
Ryback being in the main event at that time also wrote the writers into a corner, as something big had to be sacrificed in a match that needed a winner. Do you sacrifice Ryback’s undefeated streak or do you sacrifice CM Punk’s historic near year-long WWE title reign? At the time, I argued that it should have been CM Punk’s title reign that should have been saved. At the time, I got my wish but not in the most dignifying of ways. After Punk was getting beat up for about eleven minutes, referee Brad Maddox low-blowed Ryback and CM Punk rolled him up to retain the championship. It was a such a cheap finish in a match that really shouldn’t encourage cheap finishes. Ryback’s undefeated streak ended with a crooked referee delivering a fast count and a low-blow. Over the years, my opinion on who should have won that match has changed dramatically. Ryback should have been the one to go over, as capitalising on an extremely over Ryback could have possibly created a new top star that WWE was in serious need for. Considering what happened next, even a short title reign for Ryback could have done something to help Big Hungry.
Suddenly, he was severely hurt by a number of big pay-per-view match losses. At Survivor Series, TLC, Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania 29, Ryback would lose in every single match he was in. He was unable to win the WWE Championship, he lost to the Shield, he lost in the Royal Rumble to John Cena, he ate the pin against the Shield at Elimination Chamber and lost against Mark Henry after Mark simply fell on him. A heel turn on the night after WrestleMania could have been Big Hungry’s saving grace, if it weren’t for who his opponent was…
WWE Champion John Cena had JUST won the WWE Championship from The Rock in the big WrestleMania 29 rematch. Ryback was clearly not going to win the championship this early into John Cena’s title run. No matter how well they could have protected Ryback and no matter how good his two pay-per-view matches with Cena were, another two pay-per-views where Ryback didn’t win put a dent in the Big Guy’s credibility. What soon followed was a pretty bad angle with Ryback being the high school bully as part of the WWE’s “Be-A-Star” campaign which eventually led to Ryback being Paul Heyman’s new “Heyman Guy” along with Curtis Axel. After losing twice to CM Punk, his days as a main-eventer were over. There was no redemption for Ryback as a top star, following so many pay-per-view losses in the span of a year. No matter what anyone thinks, wins and losses matter in WWE. Now he was “stuck” in a tag team with Curtis Axel, who himself had just lost the Intercontinental Championship.
To be fair, I actually very much enjoyed the RybAxel tag team with Ryback and Axel. The two men were funny whenever doing work together for the WWE app, they had good chemistry in the ring and both worked well as a heel tag team. The fact that they never held the tag titles was rather annoying but then again, there was a lot of difficult competition during their run. Teams like the Shield, the Usos, the Real Americans, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, the New Age Outlaws, the Brotherhood along with many more put RybAxel in an awkward spot. Ryback was far away from the top of the WWE ladder and was actually not in WWE’s internal good books either. He would then get hernia surgery and be out of action for several months.
Ryback returned to WWE as a face in October 2014, getting over once again as he got hungry once again. He also broke up his tag team with Curtis Axel in an incredible backstage segment on Superstars. He built himself up again and would become one of the standout wrestlers in John Cena’s Survivor Series feud with the Authority. Despite the sudden push he was getting, he was still eliminated first for Team Cena in the big five-on-five Survivor Series match in 2014. Why he had to be eliminated first still bothers me to this day, considering how much Ryback had gotten over since he went back to being hungry again.
He would float around the mid-card scene for a little bit until he won his first championship in May 2015. He won a terrible Elimination Chamber match for the Intercontinental Championship to win the vacated title. After an uninteresting feud with Big Show and The Miz, the Big Guy dropped the title to Kevin Owens. A pretty stale Intercontinental title run did little to help the ‘s career as did Ryback’s feud with Kalisto in 2016. The end was nigh following Payback 2016, as he came out with a weight belt on which read “pre-show stopper” as he wrestled Kalisto in a very good pre-show match. Ryback went home and was done with WWE.
I think his loss to CM Punk did play a major role in the downfall of Ryback as a main-eventer. Once you lose that aura of invincibility, it’s very hard to get it back and to get the fans to be as invested in your character as they were before. Ultimately, his losing streak in pay-per-views was the biggest stinger to Ryback’s championship hopes. A credible main-eventer should not lose every big match he’s in, as a top star should win big matches. The heel turn did little to help things, mostly because of the timing. There still seemed to be life in Ryback’s chances to get over to a main-event level again as he turned face again in 2014. However, WWE’s intentions with Ryback amounted to just being another body in the over-populated mid-card territory.
One final factor which played a huge role in hurting the man’s credibility were the ever annoying “Goldberg” chants that would follow him everywhere he went. It’s not Ryback’s fault that the fans would chant that but it did add damage to the Big Guy’s title chances.
I remember a promo Mick Foley cut on the Big Guy in 2013, claiming that Ryback was destined to one day be WWE Champion. The fact that Ryback never fulfilled that destiny is a shame. It took Ryan Reeves more than decade in WWE to win a championship, which is pretty bamboozling if you think about it. This man had been in main-event programs and beaten many men ever since becoming Ryback in 2012 and it took him that long after his initial Tough Enough appearance to win a title?
I guess it’s time to raise a glass to the Big Guy and wish him well in his future. The Big Guy seems to have ideas about what he wants to do with himself now that he’s not with WWE and let’s hope that he achieves his dreams. It’s also important to note to never say never to a potential return to WWE for the Big Guy if he ever gets hungry again.
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