Analyzing Ryback and His Future in WWE

Feed me more.

Those three words sound like something a four-year-old might say to his mother, but instead, they’ve become the battle chant for WWE superstar Ryback.

Ryback, formerly known as Nexus member “Skip Sheffield,” returned to the WWE on the April 6 edition of Friday Night SmackDown under his new character.

It is, of course, the character that has been a big topic of conversation ever since he came back.

The running joke about Ryback is that he is nothing more than a cross between Rob Van Dam and Goldberg.

He’s part RVD because of his airbrushed singlet and part Goldberg because of the way he dominates his opponents.

After all, that’s pretty much all that Ryback has done so far.

He’s spent most of his current run decimating his opponents—who are typically local enhancement workers—in short squashes that usually last less than a minute or two. That’s perhaps the biggest reason why the fans continue to chant “Goldberg! Goldberg! Goldberg!” at Ryback during his matches.

The WWE, however, has tried and is still trying to combat that.

Creative started attempting to separate Ryback from those Goldberg comparisons by putting him in a feud with Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks.

But that didn’t seem to work, so the WWE has done two more things to try to make the “Goldberg” chants go away.

For starters, Ryback is now feuding with Jinder Mahal, a cowardly heel who WWE officials are using as Ryback’s first real rival.

Secondly, the WWE changed up Ryback’s theme song, making his “Feed Me More” line the focus of it.

It is undoubtedly the company’s attempt to make the fans stop chanting “Goldberg” and start chanting “”Feed Me More,” which could help Ryback get more over as the baby face that the WWE is building him up to be.

To an extent, it seems to be working.

The “Feed Me More” line seems to be getting more and more over by the week, and the “Goldberg” chants—though certainly still there—seem to be going away, if only slowly.

The WWE’s biggest challenge, however, will be ensuring that Ryback can succeed in the WWE in his current form.

The problem with that, though, is that a big chunk of WWE fans continue to associate Ryback with Goldberg, which—despite the things that Goldberg accomplished in pro wrestling—isn’t viewed as a good thing.

Rather, it’s a knock on Ryback, essentially saying he’s a Goldberg ripoff, that he’s “stealing” someone else’s gimmick and that he has a limited arsenal of moves that will ultimately give him a short shelf-life.

That’s perhaps my biggest fear about Ryback

How long is his shelf-life? Can he continue to do the same thing over and over again and still expect to advance in the WWE?

I’m not sure he can.

It’s very early on in Ryback’s run, so I would never completely dismiss the possibility of him making it to the top of the WWE. But I do think that the chances of him doing that become much slimmer if he doesn’t tweak his current character.

Yes, Ryback looks like an absolute monster, and his power, physique and intensity are all impressive.

But this is the WWE, a company that has seen countless monsters come and go without having a ton of success.

Unless you’re a rare superstar like Kane or Brock Lesnar, it’s going to be really hard to continuously make an impact in the WWE.

For every Kane, there’s a Vladimir Kozlov, who gets pushed to the top of the WWE only to fail miserably.

For every Lesnar, there’s a Great Khali, who loses any appeal he might have once he atually starts wrestling.

Now, the jury is still out on Ryback and his in-ring ability, because none of his matches have lasted more than five minutes or so.

But he’s coming into the WWE at a time when in-ring work is more of a priority than it has been in years gone by.

Just about every guy who’s currently at or near the top of the WWE today—CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, etc.—is there in large part because of his abilities in the ring.

I’m not sure Ryback can succeed in a WWE that values in-ring ability so much when he hasn’t done much beyond squash local jobbers and lower-card workers.

Who knows? Ryback’s feud with Jinder Mahal may allow him to shine, and Ryback may eventually show that he’s a pretty good in-ring worker.

But for now, he’s just a big powerhouse with a gimmick that wrestling fans will continue to associate with someone else.

Although I’m sure that the WWE will give him every opportunity in the world to succeed before pulling the plug on him, Ryback seems like the right superstar at the wrong time.

25 years ago, he very well may have been one of the biggest stars around.

But today?

He’s going to have do more than be physically imposing and chant “Feed Me More” to have any type of real success in the WWE.