WWE Money in the Bank 2013: Ryback Must Win Impressively to Rehab His Gimmick

Ryback heads into Money in the Bank 2013 with a great deal to win or lose despite not fighting for a championship or championship contract.

His match with Chris Jericho offers him a chance to regain momentum that has been waning since The Shield first attacked him last year. The once unstoppable force has been stopped several times, and it's going to take a convincing win against Jericho to have him regain some of that aura.

Early on, Ryback was WWE's Godzilla, knocking over foes with little effort. Since then, Godzilla has been defeated, thwarted and made to look like a whiner.

His first few losses came courtesy of Brad Maddox's shady refereeing or interference from The Shield. Then came a loss against Mark Henry on WrestleMania 29 and two straight pay-per-view defeats courtesy of John Cena.

Losing to the WWE champ and the top star isn't anything to be ashamed about, but it continued to peel off layers of Ryback's once impenetrable armor. For a guy built on being a human wrecking ball, getting turned away so often is bad for business.

Having Daniel Bryan and Justin Gabriel attack his legs was one thing, but then to have him quit mid-match against The Miz had Ryback go from monster to weakling.

This is the damage WWE must repair at Money in the Bank if the company wants to move forward with Ryback being a powerful entity. If it wants him to turn into a comedy character and join Tons of Funk for some hip-shaking, no dominance is needed.

If WWE wants him to be the awe-inspiring beast he can be, this match is the chance to turn things around.

Jericho's band is about to head out on a tour that begins in Europe in August before hitting several North American cities over the next few months. That leaves WWE with the need to write him off TV. An injury suffered during his match with Ryback does just that.

Defeating Jericho gave Fandango some momentum at WrestleMania 29, but damaging him after a hard-fought battle will help fans start thinking of Ryback as a threat again.

An emphatic win against Jericho that leaves him needing medical attention will do plenty to erase our memories of him crying on WWE SmackDown last month.

That's not the image of a man anyone fears. That's not the image of the bloodthirsty beast Ryback has been previously built up as.

Unless WWE has a new direction in mind with Ryback, he needs to make his match with Jericho a return to might and to destruction. Jericho must be the wall and Ryback the wrecking ball relearning the art of demolition.