Dropping the Ball – Ryback

This is a brand new series I will be bringing to you. Every week I will be discussing a current or former WWE superstar/women’s wrestler who WWE could have been better than what they were. They had the push but it was suddenly taken from them. As this is a new series and I am a new author here please leave any feedback in the comments. Negative or positive either way it will help me out with the next episode.

Lets go back to 2012 when Ryback made his in ring debut. He was basically squashing jobbers one or two at a time each night on RAW, Smackdown, and even on Pay Per Views. Ryback made squash matches cool again and it was fun to watch. The Ryback’s trademark war cry before the finish of every match and celebrating after every match was “FEED ME MORE”. This chant caught on slowly draining out the “Goldberg” chants. That chant along with his pure strength really got him over so much that when he eventually challenged CM Punk for the WWE Championship a lot of people were really backing the 38-0 monster.

Enter Hell in the Cell 2012. Ryback was booked to face CM Punk at Hell in the Cell, in the cell as a replacement for Cena who was not fully recovered in time from an elbow injury. This was Ryback’s big opportunity and most fans believed his hype. Ryback was doing to CM Punk what he did to everyone else. Squash his opponents. He was throwing the champion around the cell, into the cell, and virtually anywhere he could. CM Punk’s best offense was with a Kendo Stick and a few knee strikes. Ryback had Punk set up for the shell shock until referee Brad Maddox hit him with a low blow and cost him the match. Thus ending the magical 38-0 streak. At that moment he lost a majority of what made him special. Had WWE not made this mistake Ryback could have been a star. They booked themself into a corner with this match. WWE had to either end a 300 day title reign or end an amazing winning streak. They obviously went to end the streak.
Ryback was never supposed to be in this match to begin with. He beat The Miz in a non-title match, so why was he not chasing that title instead of being booked into a corner at the top card where he should not have been. The undefeated Ryback would have been a good Intercontinental champion at that time when the title was not at its most prestige.

At Survivor Series 2012 WWE made its second mistake with the Ryback by having im in the main event of a Pay Per View that they did not want him to win. Ryback could have easily been facing the Intercontinental Champion Miz or even the United States Champion Cesaro and picked up either belts. However, he was placed in this match and took the second loss of his career in a match he should not have been in.

Ryback was then placed in limbo from Survivor Series to Wrestlemania 29. He took a loss to the Shield with Team Hell No at TLC. The next month at the Royal Rumble he made it to the final two of the match and was eliminated by John Cena. He then lost again to the Shield with Sheamus and John Cena at Elimination Chamber. Wrestlemania 29 came about and everyone just knew Ryback would go over Mark Henry, but of course WWE decided Mark Henry would take the win.

Ryback would then be turned heel and placed in a rivalry with John Cena over the WWE Championship. The base of the heel turn was Ryback felt as if John Cena never helped him with the Shield even when Ryback was there for John. The two put on a good Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules which ended in a no contest. At the following Pay Per View Ryback faced John Cena in a three stages of hell match and lost. After that loss he teamed with Curtis Axel forming Rybaxel, was a pawn in the Paul Heyman/CM Punk feud, had various random feuds and had some forgettable runs as the Intercontinental Champion which did nothing for his stock in WWE. He basically floated around turning heel and face about every 2-3 months and without having anymore valuable momentum in WWE. It wasn’t until he stood up for equal pay among other things that he was released earlier in the year.

Ryback was one of the most wasted WWE talents in the last 10 years. He could have easily elevated the Intercontinental Championship or United States Championship during his win streak days. He was pushed to the main event scene way too sn at the wrong time. He should have never turned heel if creative was going to have him lose in the end in 2013. He could have been a main attraction to the company, maybe even getting close to Goldberg’s record and making that a storyline. This is a classic case of WWE not seeing an amazing star they have in their hands and letting them go to waste. This is only the first case of bad booking and wasting a potential top star talent that we’ll look at so check us out next week to read the next edition of “dropped the ball.”