Ryback: The joke is on WWE

Ryback – Funny, in his own right…

‘Feed me more’

It seems about right.

The only thing he can do right is eat, that too, maybe.

The man who broke onto the scene as a killing machine is long gone. What’s left behind, is a joke.

About this time last year, WWE introduced us to a man, who, though looked like Goldberg, was a refreshing change to the gimmicks. He was a crazed muscle man who decimated and dominated his opponents in a way that no one else could have done.

Picking up two or three jobbers on his shoulders at one time, running over wrestlers, shouting words like ‘Stupid!’ in between the match were some of the moments that made the highlight reel.

However, over the past year, all of this has vanished into thin air.

It all started with a premature push into the title picture, when he was handpicked by Vince McMahon as the next face of WWE in the light of John Cena’s injury.

It was a time when Ryback’s star was on the rise. WWE were giving the superstar a major push. Meanwhile, WWE was also building up CM Punk’s title reign, which, in all trueness, was a much bigger deal than Ryback’s push.

So, when these both were penned in for a match inside the cell, WWE was forced to choose between the two. And rightly, WWE chose CM Punk’s title reign over building Ryback.

As a result, Ryback lost his first championship match and, arguably, lost his momentum.

Then, came a push for the Shield, and Ryback was used as the scapegoat yet again, which further damaged his credibility as a superstar. A guy who struck fear in the minds of his competitors on weekly shows was unable to carry forward the momentum to the PPVs.

A man, who started his WWE career squashing jobbers, was now a jobber himself, albeit to much more talented wrestlers. The word talented, here, stands for every superstar who can perform the basics inside the ring.

But no, not Ryback. This guy is different. When everything else seems to go right, he decides to go left. Ryback has botched so many moves inside the WWE ring that at one point, numerous superstars in the locker room refused to work with him.

Examples like a failed attempt to ‘Shell Shock’ Tensai come to mind. More recently, he botched a dangerous move involving CM Punk and a table. Both of which are more valuable to the company than he is.

However, that aspect of Ryback is not half as bad as his character.

Since WrestleMania, Ryback turned heel. The man, of whom the whole locker room was scared, literally, was now a man who walked away from matches and avoided confrontation.

More scary was the fact that, now, he had started talking. As in, to the WWE Universe, and through a microphone. Ryback’s promos often resulted in snoozefests across the world. So much so, that a fan actually called 911 in order to get him off his television screen.

Most of the time, the crowd are left guessing the words used by Ryback in his promo. Some of them actually reconsidered their lives while sitting in the stands of a WWE Live Event. It is safe to say that Ryback has some part to play in their future endeavours.

And what in the name of god is he doing nowadays. No, really, that’s a question. What is he doing?

WWE planned a character restoration project for him. He was now being billed as a bully, who took food away from backstage staff and pushed and shoved those poor innocent souls. Way to go, Ryback!

And when the world thought that Ryback will see out the rest of his career in the backstage, he interfered in the match involving CM Punk and Paul Heyman, siding with the latter.

He is involved in a love triangle with Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel. Even with Heyman by his side, he is being allowed to speak. Surely, WWE missed a trick here.

Keeping Sin Cara aside, because that’s where he should be kept, Ryback is the undisputed champion at botching. He can botch a simplest move like ‘Sleeper Hold’, by actually choking the opponent.

WWE has made numerous mistakes when it comes to the big superstar, there is no denying that. But, most of the wrongdoing has been of his own. The tables used by the Dudley Boyz were more entertaining than Ryback on the whole. And you cannot even compare him to the ladders.

Oh, and the worst of all, you ask? He smiles.

Hopefully, Paul Heyman can feed some sense into him. Feed him more, Paul. Feed him more.