Ryback was a key star for WWE in the early-to-mid 2010s. He more than once garnered main event pushes, rooted in his awesome look and strength, including him challenging the likes of John Cena and CM Punk for the WWE Championship. Times change, and after more than once fizzling from the upper ranks of the company, The Big Guy left WWE with some hard feelings.
Since then, his podcast, Twitter account, and other platforms have played host to him saying some remarkable things — some comments that were in poor taste, some that seemed ill-timed, and others that simply came across as outlandish.
10 Criticized Vince McMahon After His Mother Passed
One of the more somber notes heading into Royal Rumble 2022 was that news broke Vince McMahon’s mother had passed away at the age of 101. While any loss is sad to hear, this one seemed to strike wrestling fans especially hard given a general sense of Vince himself being immortal.
A chorus of condolences came through, but Ryback took a different tack, tweeting that Vince had “an insatiable urge to have control. He had no control watching his mom get beat up as a child, which is a horrendous thing for a kid to witness, as their [expletive] mom tries to make ends meet. Vince has failed to evolve. [Expletive] you old man.” While the WWE Chairman has his share of critics, everyone seemed to agree Ryback’s comments at that moment were repugnant.
9 Didn’t Seem To Understand Karma As It Pertained To CM Punk’s Injury
After CM Punk left WWE, he was open in his critique of Ryback, including accusing The Big Guy of being reckless in the ring and injuring him. Years later, Punk had to relinquish the AEW Championship mere days after winning it, opening up huge questions about who would hold AEW's top title in his absence, besides marking a huge hit on Punk personally. Ryback was quick to offer his thoughts.
He tweeted, “Karma rules.” In reality, it would appear The Big Guy was simply expressing pleasure about something bad happening to someone who’d criticized him. However, many fans pointed out that it made no sense to suggest it was karma for Punk to get injured after Ryback had injured him before.
8 Called John Cena "Poison To The Wrestling Industry”
On his podcast, Conversations with The Big Guy, Ryback hasn’t shied away from criticizing John Cena, insinuating that the megastar was overly protective of his spot to the point of politicking to keep stars like Alex Riley and Ryback himself down.
There may be a kernel of truth to his claims, as it’s not unheard for a top guy to behave in this manner. Nonetheless, The Big Guy pushed things to the extreme in coming right out to say, “John Cena is a poison to the wrestling industry.”
7 Labeled Triple H A Disappointment
Fall 2022 saw a scary situation emerge as Triple H suffered a cardiac event. The Game opened up about the situation leading up to WrestleMania 38 weekend, revealing how close he’d come to death and officially announced his retirement from the ring. While many voices emerged to celebrate Triple H’s legacy, Ryback was not among them. Rather, Ryback tweeted, “"You ended up being the biggest disappointment for me personally from loving you growing up, but I wish you well in retirement and future good health.”
While it’s fair for Ryback not to have the most positive impression of The Cerebral Assassin, going out of his way to bash him at this particular time felt as though it was in terrible taste.
6 Blasted Mark Henry’s Ring Work
Ryback and Mark Henry worked a memorable feud that included one of the better good big man vs. big man showdowns at WrestleMania 29. In 2021, the two engaged in a war of words over social media. That included Ryback suggesting Henry was “the [expletive]s in the ring,” and that’s why John Cena didn’t want to work house shows with him, so Ryback stepped up.
Henry continued the exchange via Busted Open Radio, which got the point of each man speculating about what would happen in a real fight between the two of them.
5 Claims He Gave The Shield The Idea For Their Signature Move
When The Shield first arrived on the scene in WWE, they made their presence known by helping reigning WWE Champion CM Punk retain his title against Ryback. The trio of fresh faces hit a triple powerbomb on The Big Guy and years later, on his podcast, Ryback claimed he actually gave them the idea for the move.
Ryback was actually a bit tongue-in-cheek in joking afterward that he regretted bringing up the idea, given he was the one who had to take the bump off it more than anyone in the months to follow.
4 Said He Could Manhandle Brock Lesnar
Ryback is enough of a powerhouse that most people wouldn’t dare start a physical altercation with him. Brock Lesnar is one of the very few men, however, who by virtue of size and pedigree in MMA and amateur wrestling whom most fans would favor to take The Big Guy in a legitimate fight.
However, Ryback didn’t seem so sure when he took to Twitter in the fall of 2021 to claim he “could manhandle [Lesnar] with ease in every way possible.” It’s impossible to say if Ryback was simply trying to stir the pot or actually saying what he believes, but regardless he drew his share of dissenting opinions given how few people believably could beat Lesnar in a real fight.
3 Defended The Undertaker’s Least Popular Comments
While The Undertaker is one of the best respected figures in professional wrestling, he drew the ire of a number of people in the business for comments he made on Joe Rogan’s podcast. In particular, The Dead Man suggested that current wrestling had gone soft.
While Ryback typically wouldn’t draw any heat for agreeing with The Undertaker, in this case, when he called the show a great listen and paid tribute to the wrestlers that came before, it didn’t come across so well, for the suggestion he agreed contemporary wrestlers don’t have enough edge to them.
2 Claimed Vince McMahon Purposefully Hurt His Merchandise Sales
In more than one instance on his podcast and Twitter, Ryback has come around to the theme of Vince McMahon and others in WWE management sabotaging him. One recurrent thread is the idea they purposefully undermined his merchandise sales by turning him heel or cutting off his pushes each time he started to catch fire.
While the quality of WWE booking is certainly up for debate, the idea the head of company went out of his way to counterintuitively hurt a rising star’s ability to generate revenue feels unusual to say the least.
1 Said His Greatest Moment Was Getting Out Of WWE
On a 2020 visit to The Angle podcast, Ryback delved into a range of issues from his WWE career. The interview included chronicling his time working with Paul Heyman and with Curtis Axel as a tag team partner, but arrived at its crux in The Big Guy claiming his greatest moment of all was when he left the company.
Ryback’s certainly not alone in expressing discontent with his WWE tenure. However, for a wrestler who hasn’t enjoyed success elsewhere and did have the spotlight for key swathes of time, his expression of how great it was to leave felt a little overstated and perhaps like sour grapes for not fully realizing the potential he thought he had.