Ryback Looks Forward to Getting Back in the Main Event Scene

WWE star Ryback recently spoke to USAirwaysCenter.com in order to promote the recent “Smackdown” tapings. “The Big Guy” and self-proclaimed four-time champion in WWE spoke about a number of topics in regards to his career.

Ryback talked about having to come up with the Skip Sheffield character, only for Vince McMahon to want him to get away from it:

“It was kind of funny. I was Ryback and then Dusty Rhodes pulled me aside and wanted me to try something different. He said, “I know you’re a funny guy,” but my heart was set on Ryback. I remember I cut a promo on the Undertaker down in FCW and the writers thought it may have been a bit too ‘80s or ‘90s. I think they just didn’t understand it. It was one of those things where I knew I was going to be Ryback in the WWE, and “you people just don’t realize it.”

So I agreed to come up with a different character, and I came up with this whole joke which was Skip Sheffield. But the joke ended up turning back on me, because it got really popular down in FCW. To this day it blows my mind, because it became really, really popular and I became a huge baby face down there. It then got me called up to the WWE roster and I was kind of stuck with it.

I was like, “this sucks,” but at the same time I was having fun. But it was not me. It was all a joke. I had never even been to College Station, Texas, where I billed myself from. But it allowed me to open up and do things in the ring that I’d never had the opportunity before, trying to be so serious. And it got me called up.

But I remember (WWE Chairman) Vince McMahon telling me, just two or three weeks into (my call up), “You’re not going to be doing this. You’re going to make me millions and millions of dollars being yourself. I want you to slowly get away from this. Don’t do it overnight, but slowly get away from this.” I’m thinking to myself, ‘Well, hell, now I kind of like doing this, because it got me up here. Now I’ve got to start all over again.’

So I had to go back to the drawing board and slowly start getting away from it. Thankfully Nexus came about and I was pulled into that and allowed to be myself. The problem was I still had that dopey name Skip Sheffield, which was not a main-event caliber name. But luckily I broke my ankle and leg and was out a year and a half, and got to come back as Ryback. So it all worked out.”

The originator of the ever-so-popular “Feed Me More” chant also spoke about his early run in WWE as Ryback, noting he looks forward to returning to the “main event scene:”

“It’s been an unforgettable experience. I’m very thankful for everything, coming back as Ryback and getting put into the main even scene and delivering, and then kind of slowly getting away from that and being in a little bit of a different position right now, being in a tag team (with Curtis Axel) and having fun. I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked and in-ring wise. I’m at a level I’ve never been at before, and very confident in myself and what I’m able to do.

But I think people are going to very soon see the rise of Ryback once again. This business goes in cycles, where you can be hot one minute and then you’re cold the next, and then you’re hot again. The key is to try and stay hot as long as possible. I look forward to getting back in the main event scene again, because I’m the one guy that could change the whole thing. And I’m looking forward to that opportunity again because it’s going to come.

I’m just very thankful, though, to be a WWE superstar and be able to live my dream and make people happy doing what I do. It’s a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice, but when you see the result at the end of the day, making people happy, I love the job that I have.”

Be sure to read the entire interview, here. Ryback also talks about loving Razor Ramon as a child, how he came up with the Ryback name, and much more.

Editor’s Note

“You’re getting in, big man!”