Kemo
01-28-2017, 04:05 PM
Former WWE star Ryback recently took part in a Q & A with fans for North East Online Wrestling, where he says he feels he was ready to be given a WWE Championship run back in 2012. The question and answer session was broadcast on The Buzzards Wrestling Podcast, and we hear Ryback discuss what was going on behind-the-scenes during his on-sceen feud with CM Punk. He also claims that sometimes his merchandise outsold John Cena’s.
“I absolutely was ready [for a WWE Title run] and we would’ve created a new star right then and there but with the ankle injury, WWE were never going to let that happen,” Ryback said of the company limiting his push. “If people knew the merchandise numbers and how well we were doing on everything and I was sometimes beating John Cena. I had to fight to get all the merchandise that I had and I still had a core of what John had at the time, or half of what he had, and they wouldn’t let it go anymore, whereas now, they can’t make enough stuff for people. They were not allowing me that opportunity when the numbers were there and the crowd support was there.”
Ryback says he lost out on a lot of those merchandise sales because Vince McMahon doesn’t want heels to sell as much merchandise as the babyfaces. He says when WWE turned him heel after WrestleMania 29, McMahon gave the order for the company to stop prominently displaying his merchandise.
“Vince personally came up to me and told me ‘I want your merchandise to tank’ and they quit promoting it,” Ryback claims. “So, from a business standpoint, he told me ‘I don’t want you selling merchandise as a heel.’ Kevin Owens is a heel, Seth Rollins was a heel and all their other heels all have merchandise, so explain that. It all goes back to my ankle situation.”
“I absolutely was ready [for a WWE Title run] and we would’ve created a new star right then and there but with the ankle injury, WWE were never going to let that happen,” Ryback said of the company limiting his push. “If people knew the merchandise numbers and how well we were doing on everything and I was sometimes beating John Cena. I had to fight to get all the merchandise that I had and I still had a core of what John had at the time, or half of what he had, and they wouldn’t let it go anymore, whereas now, they can’t make enough stuff for people. They were not allowing me that opportunity when the numbers were there and the crowd support was there.”
Ryback says he lost out on a lot of those merchandise sales because Vince McMahon doesn’t want heels to sell as much merchandise as the babyfaces. He says when WWE turned him heel after WrestleMania 29, McMahon gave the order for the company to stop prominently displaying his merchandise.
“Vince personally came up to me and told me ‘I want your merchandise to tank’ and they quit promoting it,” Ryback claims. “So, from a business standpoint, he told me ‘I don’t want you selling merchandise as a heel.’ Kevin Owens is a heel, Seth Rollins was a heel and all their other heels all have merchandise, so explain that. It all goes back to my ankle situation.”