Kemo
03-30-2018, 10:15 PM
Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Ryback was recently interviewed by The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling to talk about several professional wrestling topics. “The Big Guy” first offered his thoughts on SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan getting cleared by WWE doctors to return to in-ring action:
“I am very happy for him. I saw him back at Rusev’s wedding last year and we were talking and it was when he had returned (I believe) he was on TV as an on air role at that time but I could see that it wasn’t fulfilling to him because he didn’t have that outlet to perform and he didn’t have that physical aspect of it.
“You’ve got to understand that when you wrestle and he wrestled for a majority of his life and I could tell you first hand that especially for myself having to back off a bit this last year that it is extremely and mentally difficult when you are used to making money with your body and being told you can’t do something is extremely taxing on the human mind.
“For him to have to still be in that environment, granted not as much as he was but to still show up to TV every week and to watch all these guys he came up with getting their opportunity to perform and not being able to do that is extremely frustrating.
“I felt for him deeply because I knew how bad he wanted to wrestle. It is really cool to see him get another chance because he was so hot when it all got taken away and I was there for that and I witnessed that on different occasions where he went through the different injuries up there and overcame them.
“So to see him return, I’d like to see him take it easy for a little bit and he seems to have thrown himself back into the mix full steam by taking an apron power bomb and doing those God damn dropkicks where he lands on his head but I would have liked to have seen him ease back in but I guess if you are going to go and he only knows one speed and that is why everybody loves him.”
He then commented on the supposed “bad blood” between himself and Rusev. Most notably, Ryback commented on one of Rusev’s live Instagram videos and teased “The Bulgarian Brute” by saying he hopes he’s not involved in Jon Bravo’s steroid controversy documentary:
“I guess there are a lot of people out there that are so smart and they know everything about wrestling and I can’t tell you how many times I talk about Rusev as one of my favorite all time opponents and one of my favorite people. What friends do is they go online sometimes and they bust each other’s balls. He’s done it to me and I’ve done it to him and it is unfortunate that we live in a day and age where people can just cherry-pick something.”
“I see he is doing an Instagram live and I click on it. He sees me, cracks a smile and says ‘big guy’. I leave a comment and he makes a comment about me which we talk about through text. He made a comment about me not being natural and I made a comment back to him that he could lose more weight and I got pegged the bad guy in that one because two friends were having fun and it was one of those things where he says me and Ryback have no beef, well nobody takes that part.
“Everybody just thinks that Ryback was blocked from Rusev’s Instagram and I can assure that I am not blocked and we were just talking earlier today. People have to understand that guys laugh at this sh*t. If I had a beef with someone the last thing I would do is go on an Instagram live and hash it out on that.”
Ryback also responded to the constant comparisons he receives to WWE Hall Of Famers Ultimate Warrior and Goldberg:
“People are always going to do that and the only thing you can do is go out and live your life and have your career. It is unfortunately that you are going to have people that they’re extremely loyal to the people that came before you and I’ve always said that and I never once tried to go out there and replicate being any of those guys. I have a bald head and I have big traps.
“They did short matches and I do longer matches but that is the role that they played and I had played that role as well doing the shorter matches but that is just what people like to compare you to in the guys that came before you. In ten or fifth teen years if another guy comes along wearing an air-brushed singlet he might get compared to me.
“It is just the way that the business is and you can’t really get too caught up in that because we are all our own individual person or wrestler at the end of the day and I think the fans that know our styles were completely different, the move sets are completely different and the characters are completely different.”
“I am very happy for him. I saw him back at Rusev’s wedding last year and we were talking and it was when he had returned (I believe) he was on TV as an on air role at that time but I could see that it wasn’t fulfilling to him because he didn’t have that outlet to perform and he didn’t have that physical aspect of it.
“You’ve got to understand that when you wrestle and he wrestled for a majority of his life and I could tell you first hand that especially for myself having to back off a bit this last year that it is extremely and mentally difficult when you are used to making money with your body and being told you can’t do something is extremely taxing on the human mind.
“For him to have to still be in that environment, granted not as much as he was but to still show up to TV every week and to watch all these guys he came up with getting their opportunity to perform and not being able to do that is extremely frustrating.
“I felt for him deeply because I knew how bad he wanted to wrestle. It is really cool to see him get another chance because he was so hot when it all got taken away and I was there for that and I witnessed that on different occasions where he went through the different injuries up there and overcame them.
“So to see him return, I’d like to see him take it easy for a little bit and he seems to have thrown himself back into the mix full steam by taking an apron power bomb and doing those God damn dropkicks where he lands on his head but I would have liked to have seen him ease back in but I guess if you are going to go and he only knows one speed and that is why everybody loves him.”
He then commented on the supposed “bad blood” between himself and Rusev. Most notably, Ryback commented on one of Rusev’s live Instagram videos and teased “The Bulgarian Brute” by saying he hopes he’s not involved in Jon Bravo’s steroid controversy documentary:
“I guess there are a lot of people out there that are so smart and they know everything about wrestling and I can’t tell you how many times I talk about Rusev as one of my favorite all time opponents and one of my favorite people. What friends do is they go online sometimes and they bust each other’s balls. He’s done it to me and I’ve done it to him and it is unfortunate that we live in a day and age where people can just cherry-pick something.”
“I see he is doing an Instagram live and I click on it. He sees me, cracks a smile and says ‘big guy’. I leave a comment and he makes a comment about me which we talk about through text. He made a comment about me not being natural and I made a comment back to him that he could lose more weight and I got pegged the bad guy in that one because two friends were having fun and it was one of those things where he says me and Ryback have no beef, well nobody takes that part.
“Everybody just thinks that Ryback was blocked from Rusev’s Instagram and I can assure that I am not blocked and we were just talking earlier today. People have to understand that guys laugh at this sh*t. If I had a beef with someone the last thing I would do is go on an Instagram live and hash it out on that.”
Ryback also responded to the constant comparisons he receives to WWE Hall Of Famers Ultimate Warrior and Goldberg:
“People are always going to do that and the only thing you can do is go out and live your life and have your career. It is unfortunately that you are going to have people that they’re extremely loyal to the people that came before you and I’ve always said that and I never once tried to go out there and replicate being any of those guys. I have a bald head and I have big traps.
“They did short matches and I do longer matches but that is the role that they played and I had played that role as well doing the shorter matches but that is just what people like to compare you to in the guys that came before you. In ten or fifth teen years if another guy comes along wearing an air-brushed singlet he might get compared to me.
“It is just the way that the business is and you can’t really get too caught up in that because we are all our own individual person or wrestler at the end of the day and I think the fans that know our styles were completely different, the move sets are completely different and the characters are completely different.”