WWE: Ryback’s At A Crossroads In His Career

Ryback has a lot going for him.

He’s a hypertrophic goliath with an impressive set of power moves that he can execute with a fair bit of ease on any wrestler in the world. The airbrushed singlets look sharp, the limited functional vocabulary works, and his multi-year run on WWE programming ensures he’s got name and face recognition the world over. Basically, he’s going to be able find work as a professional wrestler for as long as the sport exists.

For most competitors, the biggest challenge is becoming a “working” professional wrestler. Ryback has accomplished that feat with flying colors. The next step is graduating from “superstar” to actual star. A trick which has, thus far, eluded the Las Vegas native. He’s gotten close, feuding with generational stars like John Cena and CM Punk, but was unable to maintain his momentum after earning WWE Championship opportunities.

The real question is if Ryback is akin to the likes of Barbarian and Haku. Both of whom challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship in the 80’s before fading into the lower reaches of the card, never to headline again. Alternatively, he could represent a Rick Rude-type who dogged Ultimate Warrior for years until finally breaking through as a WCW World Champion in the 90’s. Both parties earned title opportunities at the highest levels of the sport, but there is a huge disparity in terms of longevity of their main event relevance.

Therein lies the rub.

Ryback has recently overcome a run of injuries and finds himself smack in the middle of his athletic prime. He’s got experience in pay per view main events and logically should be ready to set the world on fire. Furthermore, there’s a current vacuum of talent on the main event scene, so the opportunity is there.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, he’s been called out in a big way by his old rival CM Punk. Calling Ryback everything from dangerous, to reckless, to stupid, Punk pulled no punches in bringing attention to Rybacks alleged shortcomings. Being disparaged on Colt Cabana’s podcast by the most beloved and controversial wrestler of our age would seem to be a significant obstacle and Punk certainly meant his comments to be derogatory. However, looking at the situation more deeply reveals a different reality.

What these comments actually accomplish is shining a spotlight directly on the performance of Ryback over the coming weeks and months. If he proves to be every bit the schmuck that Punk has described, then this attention will only hasten his fall. But, if Ryback can shore up his weaknesses and showcase his myriad strengths, everyone’s going to see it.

In my eyes, Punk did Ryback a tremendous favor. If Ryback doesn’t have it in him to be a perennial champion, then he won’t make it much farther regardless of what anyone says or does. Yet, if he does find that additional gear somewhere in his perpetually empty belly, then Punk has just ensured that everyone will take notice and Ryback will become a huge star.

CM Punk may have unintentionally given Ryback the greatest gift of his career. Happy Holidays, Big Guy!