Ryback Is Destined to Be Midcard Talent After Failed Main Event Push

Ryback seems destined to be nothing but midcard talent now. Which is a shame because he really could have been a big star in wrestling.

Thanks to his size, strength and intense physical charisma, the wrestler could have surely been the next monster babyface in the Bill Goldberg mold.

It’s rather astonishing to remember back to how over Ryback was last year. He really looked like he could be on par—and maybe even overtake John Cena—as the top babyface.

His Hell in a Cell match with then-WWE champion CM Punk in October also did a very good buyrate number (via PWTorch), indicating that fans really were behind the behemoth and eager to embrace him as Cena’s replacement.

Ryback, perhaps showing some element of hubris, even bragged about wanting be a bigger star than Cena in an interview with British site Digital Spy.

Cut forward to 2013 and where exactly is Ryback? Well, nowhere near the main event scene that’s for sure.

So, what went wrong? Well, WWE decided, in all its infinite wisdom, to make their tough, unstoppable monster that never ever lost, well, lose.

Did his loss at Hell in a Cell to Punk kill his gimmick and popularity dead? Maybe.

However, as unwise as that decision was, he maybe could have been redeemed—if that company hadn’t continued to squander his potential in the days and weeks afterwards.

Here’s a startling fact: when Ryback defeated Chris Jericho at Money in the Bank last month it marked his first pay-per-view victory in WWE in almost a year.

OK, so even Goldberg lost in WCW. But it took a while, at least. WCW management gets (rightfully) trashed a great deal by fans and critics alike for its stupidity and ineptness, but it booked Goldberg considerably more competently than WWE has ever booked Ryback.

Not content to screw over his career, WWE also nonsensically turned the star heel in April for no other apparent reason other than Cena needed a fresh opponent. To make matters worse, despite battling the WWE champion, the former Nexus wrestler failed to win the title off of him, either.

How badly has Ryback’s career been damaged?

Well, his once-roaring crowd reactions are long gone. Fans seem rather indifferent and apathetic towards him.

He’s stuck in the midcard as whiny, cowardly heel and has generally been marginalized. By the looks of things, he may be headed to a showdown with old foe Mark Henry, if anyone actually cares.

Is there a lesson for WWE to learn from the fall of Ryback?

Yes, it seems so.

When a wrestler has momentum—as he did in October of last year—the best thing to do is capitalize on it. If Ryback had defeated Punk—whose title reign wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire anyway—we may be talking about the star very differently right now.