Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Ryback was recently interviewed by The Ring Report to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Ryback was asked about possibly joining All Elite Wrestling (AEW), his WWE departure, and more. Check out the highlights from Ryback’s conversation with The Ring Report here:
As I’m sure you’re aware, rumors are swirling that you could be heading to All Elite Wrestling, so I wanted to start by asking is that something you could see happening and have there been any official talks? “Right now, my main priority is just getting healthy. I just had another shoulder scope yesterday which was my second one in two years. I’ve had ten stem cells procedures and I’ve got the eleventh coming up on February 11th.
“That, right now, is my main focus. I want to get as strong and healthy as possible and that will take a few months and then I can evaluate where I am physically and decide what route I want to go with wrestling. I have no doubt that no matter what I choose, it will be the right decision. After leaving WWE, I was hurt first and foremost and I’ve essentially saved my career and been blessed by the technology that we have with stem cells where I’ve avoided having five discs fused and a shoulder replacement.
“I was in a bad way so it looks like I’m going to have a second chance to actually have a new body and do what a lot of performers wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do. Where that’s at, I don’t know, and it honestly hasn’t crossed my mind yet because I need to get to a certain level health wise before I know I can push myself at a high level again.”
Looking back on your time in WWE, do you have any regrets about how Ryback was handled by the creative team and did you find yourself clashing with them a lot as you left. “Everything happens the way that it happens. I think there’s a large portion of people out there that aren’t happy with certain circumstances and situations and we can relive the past all we want but, for me, a lot of valuable lessons were learned out of that. At the end of the day, I played every role that was asked of me to the best of my ability. I have a very large worldwide following and I’m in a very good position.
“If those things didn’t happen the way that they did, I may not have been as motivated or hungry to push myself mentally into learning about business during that period and listening to the different books on car rides to educate myself on investing and these other things. I may not be in the position I’m in now had things just been rosy and great and gone my way at different points and times.
“Now, I have all this other stuff and wrestling is still there and if I’m healthy enough to have another opportunity, I’ve got my mind now at 37 and have a new body which is a really cool and that never existed before but we’re seeing it like with Rey Mysterio as well as he’s as good as he’s ever been and is another guy who has had a lot of stem cell procedures.
“It essentially gives you a new body when it’s done properly and it actually works. I have a lot of things to be grateful for over that. Obviously, there were many, many frustrating times at many levels which I’ve talked about and been honest about for my fans so they understand why I’ve made the decisions I’ve made but when I left, it was a very easy decision. It was a day I’ll never forget in St. Louis. Sitting in a building I’d been in many times, I knew it was just time to go and I had tried communicating up until that point. I had a contract and a lot of money offered to me but I believed there were other issues going on.
“I created the Ryback character, I created the “Feed Me More” catchphrase, and “The Big Guy” nickname, so I had those trademarked and I did not have any intentions of giving them up as they meant a lot to me. I never had that discussion with Vince about how important those things were to me but I had the contract and changes made and we came to a standstill over a few things. I knew I was pretty much on my way out so we had changes made to the contract just to be difficult essentially with how they were handling things on their end.
“When I saw the writing on the wall with the booking and what was going to start happening which had already started happening that whole month prior, I decided to leave with the value I still had rather than let them run it down, pull me off TV, and then fire me. I took matters into my own hands, I went home, sat out my contract. They tried to freeze my pay and I then went and had my nose and ear fixed which required them to pay me to the day my contract expired on August 8th.
“They wanted to fire me publicly the day prior but I had not been medically cleared yet and held on to that and I waited to get cleared until my contract expired so that they could not publicly fire me. I then wished them the best, and that video is out there, on their future endeavours and because I was one step ahead the entire process, I left on my own accord and saved my career and health in the process.
“It was very interesting the final months there but, as I said, sometimes it’s good to get away and had I not and signed that contract, there’s no doubt in my mind that I would have been forced to retire because I wouldn’t have gotten an MRI on my back and shoulder because you don’t get that stuff while you’re there and I would have been forced to retire and it would have been too late for stem cells to save me because there would have been no disc left at the rate I was going and how I was pushing myself. It’s all been a blessing that everything worked out the way that it did.”
You can read Ryback’s full interview with The Ring Report at this link.
