Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Ryback took to his podcast, “Conversations With The Big Guy,” to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Ryback discussed John Oliver’s comments on WWE, nobody looking out for the best interest of the performers, and health insurance.
Here are the highlights:
John Oliver’s comments on WWE: “The video was hilarious at times, but it was put together in a very entertaining way, built around facts,” Ryback said. “I have found out, by the way, WWE threatened to sue him and some other things I found out from talking to people and whatnot, which, don’t worry, John, they won’t do anything to you. I can promise you that. But that’s like their little bully tactics. And that’s not being bitter [or] negative. It’s true.
“This is what happens and I have real experience on that end of how they do act and that sort of thing. But a lot of people watched it and I think a lot of people look at it and, to me, this is the best chance for something to be done if because if everyone would just share this video, just circulate it, I feel like it would give it the best chance to for something to be done because, for whatever reason, throughout the years they’ve been able they’re the only place to really essentially get away with this.
“There is just no rules with this, with them, and they get away with a lot. That’s what the social media thing, they brought everyone and I’ve told this story before. They brought us all in a room. This was towards the end up there, and as far as I was aware, I was the only one that didn’t sign it.
“They strong armed everybody into signing over their social media accounts where essentially they could delete your accounts, they could do whatever, and that way they could have full control over your account and which is very dangerous, especially considering I knew at that point that I wanted out. I didn’t want them which and I’ve shared this, that when I left, they threatened me with legal letters.”
Nobody looking out for the best interest of the performers: “There is nobody looking out for the wrestlers and that’s the problem. And that’s a very dangerous, scary situation, and the industry is screwed up as it is.” Ryback added, “without wrestlers, there is no WWE. And they acknowledge that, yet the wrestlers are treated the absolute worst. The money is not good.
“I know people there on very, very, very low salaries and they’re on the road just as much as all the guys, the small group of people that are making a little bit more. But they asked, they go, well, the people there aren’t saying anything. People under contract to WWE or independent wrestlers aren’t going to say [anything negative] because they all want to go there. Right?
“And WWE knows this and they prey on this. And then you’re dealing with the quote, unquote, portion of fans who are, “You should just be lucky you get to you’re a wrestler, you get to travel the world.”
Health insurance: “A big point that they brought up was the health insurance and wrestlers are covered in the ring for injuries,” Ryback said. “This is a real thing. Like, if you get hurt there or anything of that nature, they will cover you while you’re there, but once you’re gone, there is no health care. There is no system, there is nothing in place, and this is what they were talking about on the John Oliver piece, and you’ve seen they’ve given examples of past wrestlers dying young.
“Now, there is a fine line here. The wrestling industry and part of the problem is the schedule Vince put these guys on causes you to fight for your life. Without wrestlers, there is no WWE. And they acknowledge that, yet the wrestlers are treated the absolute worst,” Ryback stated. “When I broke my ankle and leg when I was in the Nexus with WWE and they sent me they had a guy named Matt, that was fired down at Florida Championship Wrestling, making all my decisions for me, that he should not have been making, sent me to a doctor who botched the entire ankle the surgery on my ankle and leg. The guy did nerve damage all the way down my leg.
“I lost function of my foot and my big toe. I still don’t have function of my big toe. Required three surgeries. I was out a year and a half. The doctor that fixed my leg in Birmingham like, they didn’t send me to Birmingham, Alabama. They tried to save money and sent me to a doctor in Tampa. There are a lot of things that we’ve discussed in the past on this podcast, and there were a lot of mistakes made at a lot of different levels. When I got the metal taken out of my leg, the doctor said that three doctors told me I was never going to wrestle again.
“They didn’t think it was going to be possible with the damage that had been done to my leg. So I see this doctor, Dr. McBride, who has been killed in a car accident since, that fixed my leg that saved my career. He goes, ‘I can’t promise you anything, but this will give you the best chance of hopefully being able to wrestle.’ That day after the surgery, John Laurinaitis called me, who was in charge of talent relations at the time, and the call was being recorded and I could hear how it was being recorded because that sound you can hear it when it was there was a way to tell when they’re recording you, when it was a very politically correct call, let me just say that.
“And I knew right then and there, I go, oh, they’re going to try to fire me at some point. And sure enough, I was at the gym and they gave me the call. I was getting ready to get cleared to make an attempt to come back. I was going to be able to probably come back, but I had a lot of damage still to my leg, but I knew I had to get I was out a year and a half, and John Laurinaitis called and fired me. This is after Nexus. I was 29 years old and I was just getting ready to get cleared, I wasn’t even cleared yet, fired me over the phone.
“Well, no. 20 minutes going off on him, “You’re not firing me,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, a bunch of ****. They sent me my firing papers on accident. I’ve still got the firing papers to this day. I had to go get attorneys. I had to then call them back, ‘What the **** is going on?’ He freaked out. ‘No, no, no, rip those papers up. Rip those papers up.’
“I went and took them right to my attorneys who then started building a case against the WWE for what they had done was illegal. My intention was I never wanted to do anything against WWE. I just wanted my opportunity to go there to do what I loved and make a living wrestling and be my best.”
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
