5 booking mistakes WWE made with Ryback

You know the way everyone perceives Braun Strowman in WWE today? Well, five years ago, that’s how a lot of people saw Ryback.

The man from Sin City had defeated enhancement talents all over the country in the summer of 2012, much like "The Monster Among Men" in 2016, and while Braun regularly demanded "more competition", Ryback would ask for the same with his catchphrase "Feed Me More".

The major difference, though, is that Strowman's rise to the top has happened gradually over the last couple of years, whereas Ryback was elevated into the main-event picture seemingly overnight – but he didn’t stay there for long.

In this article, we look at five booking mistakes that WWE made with “The Big Guy” during his four-year run as the Ryback character.

#1 WrestleMania 29 match finish

Ryback lost in bizarre fashion to Mark Henry

The build to Ryback vs. Mark Henry at WrestleMania 29 was entertaining enough. Henry had just returned from a lengthy injury and had been booked as a legitimate monster who nobody could defeat one-on-one, while Ryback still seemed like a genuine threat to the former Heavyweight champion despite a run of pay-per-view losses.

Then came one of the worst finishes to a match in WrestleMania history, when the man formerly known as "Big Hungry" showed an extraordinary feat of strength to lift Henry onto his shoulders for his Shell-Shock finishing manoeuvre, only to collapse under the weight of the “World’s Strongest Man”, who simply pinned him for the 1-2-3.

Ryback exacted a tiny bit of revenge by Shell-Shocking Henry post-match, but the outcome is what mattered, and the outcome was downright terrible.

#2 They took away his “Feed Me More” taunt

It only encouraged the "Goldberg" chants

When it comes to title reigns, sometimes the championship can help make the guy (e.g. Jinder Mahal as WWE champion) and sometimes the guy can help make the championship (e.g. John Cena as US champion).

Well, a similar thing can be said for catchphrases – in this case, Ryback and “Feed Me More”. Even if he was being booed as a good guy, he could throw his shoulder forward three times and quickly have the crowd chanting “Feed Me More”.

It was something that was never planned but, according to the man himself, Vince McMahon enjoyed the catchphrase and it became a pivotal part of the Ryback character. However, he was told to stop using it – and the signature taunt that went with it – after he turned heel on John Cena in 2013.

When the crowd could no longer chant “Feed Me More”, they’d chant “Goldberg” instead, and a comparison that seemed to be going away soon came back once he turned heel.

#3 Being a ‘Paul Heyman Guy’

The Ryback-Heyman alignment was disastrous

By September 2013, Ryback was playing an aggressive heel who would throw his weight around backstage and pick on anyone and everyone simply because he could. So, when WWE needed an opponent for CM Punk during his rivalry with Paul Heyman, who better than the man who walked around like he was untouchable?

On paper, it might have seemed a good idea. In reality, it was atrocious. Their matches were below-par and Punk has since claimed that Ryback is an unsafe wrestler who “knocked 20 years” off his career.

During the rivalry, we also saw one of the most bizarre moments in the history of Monday Night Raw, when a wheelchair-bound Heyman said he owed his life to his new client and, as a 'thank you', kissed him on the cheek.

The few months that they were aligned with each other didn’t do much for Ryback, who later said he “cut a two-hour promo” on his advocate in the catering area to let him know how much he disliked working with him.

#4 WrestleMania 31 Battle Royal

When it comes to WrestleMania, Ryback hasn’t had the best of luck. He made four appearances at the event – three of which were on the kickoff show – and he was defeated on all four occasions.

The weeks building up to WrestleMania 31 had many of us believing he would win the second-ever Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Kickoff show or no kickoff show, the match is still a pretty big deal, and a victory on the grandest stage could have kick-started Ryback’s 2015 babyface run and earned him a spot in the WrestleMania history books.

It could, and probably should, have been the biggest moment of his WWE career, but he ended up being eliminated by eventual winner Big Show.

#5 From AJ Styles to Kalisto

For the second WrestleMania build in a row, Ryback’s WWE career looked to be heading in a positive direction. On the previous PPV, he teamed with Kane & Big Show to defeat the Wyatt Family and was made to look like the biggest star in the match.

According to Ryback, he was told by Vince McMahon that he would be facing WWE newcomer AJ Styles at WrestleMania 32 and that he would be allowed to “squash that little twerp”.

But, as always in WWE, plans change and he ended up losing a United States Championship match to Kalisto in front of roughly 10,000 people on the kickoff show, while Styles went on to wrestle Chris Jericho in front of over 100,000 people on the main show.

This is probably the biggest booking mistake WWE made during Ryback’s time with the company, and it’s no wonder he left two months later after refusing to sign a new contract.

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Edited by anirudh.b