Ryback was brash, played the crowd with his “Feed Me More” catchphrase and was decent but not great in the ring.
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There are very few wrestlers that had as big an impact as Ryback had in his first few months on the main roster. He was brash, played the crowd with his “Feed Me More” catchphrase and was decent but not great in the ring. The Big Guy took on CM Punk when Punk was in his pomp and delivered great sets of matches that proved to have huge ramifications for the WWE. The one thing that counted against him was his careless work in the ring because many superstars from past and present went on to report the hazards of working with him. Despite all of this, Ryback did go on to have some amazing feuds with great rivals and in this article, we will take a look at some of them.
Ryback started feuding with CM Punk when he was absolutely bossing it in the WWE. The Big Guy had an undefeated streak and was primed to challenge for the WWE title sooner rather than later. The moment finally arrived when Ryback challenged Punk to a match at Hell in a Cell in 2012. Punk spent much of the match in a defensive mode, fearful, wary, backpedaling as Ryback stalked him around the ring. The pace of the match slowed too often. It seemed as if both him and Punk were stretching things out to avoid exhausting the challenger. Punk won thanks to some unexpected help from Brad Maddox.
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Ryback attacked John Cena on several occasions and ultimately got his title opportunity in a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules. That match ended in a no-contest after he rammed Cena and himself into the electric backdrop at the top of the ramp.The following week, the Big Guy challenged Cena to an ambulance match at Payback. Cena accepted Ryback’s challenge, but announced their match would instead be a 3 Stages of Hell match; the first fall a lumberjack match, the second a tables match, and the third an ambulance match. Ryback won the lumberjack match, but went on to lose both the tables and ambulance matches and his shot at the WWE Championship, to end the feud.
Ryback began a feud with Mark Henry after several non-verbal confrontations led to them attacking Drew McIntyre with their finishing moves in an attempt to one-up each other. On SmackDown, he defeated Henry via disqualification following interference from The Shield. Afterwards, Henry delivered the World’s Strongest Slam to Ryback three times in a row. Ryback and Henry competed in a Bench Press Challenge where Ryback tied Henry at 53 reps after Henry choked him with the weight. At WrestleMania 29, Ryback was defeated by Henry in a singles match.
