Did Payback mark the end of Ryback's run as a top guy in WWE?

Payback saw Ryback lose yet another PPV and this surely means that his run as the top guy in the company has neared its end. For more than an year now, we have seen Ryback lose a series of PPV matches starting from his match against Punk inside Hell in a Cell. Despite Ryback being proclaimed a huge powerhouse, WWE‘s strategy of making him lose matches in PPV continuously has damaged his reputation quite a lot. His match against Cena for example was seemingly brutal, and Ryback looked an absolute monster as he pounded Cena hard with huge clotheslines and strong moves that would have knocked out any other superstar out. But as WWE has made it clear, defeating Cena is not a likely option for any wrestler in the roster today leave alone Ryback.

Simply said, this loss against Cena has pushed Ryback to a state where he will find it difficult to stay on the top for now. Ryback after this loss has taken far too many hits to be a worthy contender to the title and is of no more relevance in the top draw now. WWE’s attitude and creative goof ups with Ryback has now left him with no choice but to move to the middle card where he can salvage on a few wrestlers for now and gain momentum that he seemed to possess as a newcomer.

Had WWE somehow managed to give Ryback one victory in any of the PPVs, things would have been much different than now. This is where Sheamus‘s initial run hugely differs from Ryback’s. Sheamus initially had a huge victory over Cena as he won the title against him in a Tables match. This easily gave him the credibility to be considered a top star which hasn’t yet diminished. But Ryback hasn’t had any such lucky victories thereby putting him in the sorry state that he is now.

The best way for Ryback at the moment is to move around the roster just like Mark Henry does. Henry, over the years, has moved from the midcard to the top card and back to the middle after losing a match on top. This has literally been the case with most monster heels in WWE. They do appreciably well in the mid card and show some sort of growth as far as their in-ring and mic skills are concerned, and when they are finally give that huge push, they end up losing to a top guy like Cena. The same happened with Big Show and the others.

As far as I see it, Ryback’s best feuds for the rest of the year should be against Sheamus or Christian who just returned last week. These two feuds should set the tone for Ryback to move to the top next year and maybe Ryback can bounce back in Royal Rumble next year and challenge Cena who I suppose will still be holding the title for the championship. Also WWE can consider putting him in the World Heavyweight title scenario as he is a wrestler who is extremely powerful and the WHC title has over the years seen monster heels have it around their waist.