Conversation With the Big Guy Recap – Potential Match Against Triple H, Importance of Theme Music, How Much Does WWE Developmental Pay? More!

Ryback recalls his time working in WWE’s old developmental territory, OVW. He says that some fans thought they were making millions of dollars at that time when in reality, they were only making $500-750 a week. This was actually a raise for some performers, because the initial pay was only $300 a week which was terrible.

He mentions that during this time there was a crazy wrestling fan who knew where he lived and what type of vehicle he drove, and called and filed a fake claim with Ryback’s auto insurance company. Ryback’s insurance paid off the fan and his insurance became much more expensive for a long time after. Years later Aaron Stevens (Damien Sandow) admitted to being the one who actually hit the fan’s car and apologized to Ryback. He accepted the apology but adds that it was really a scumbag thing to do.

A listener writes into the show and asks Ryback who he’d like to wrestle in WWE if he were to ever go back. He says his opponent would have to be Triple H, and he’d love to have a long match with him. There’s a personal element to a potential bout between them and he thinks it would be a huge match. He says he doesn’t even care about who emerges victorious in the match; that part of it doesn’t matter to him.

Ryback comments on the recent release of Emma, Summer Rae and Darren Young from WWE. Ryback thinks these releases are quite unfortunate and he points out that it can be tough for wrestlers to transition from a career in professional wrestling to something different. For this reason, he informs that it’s essential for wrestlers to have something else happening on the side in order to generate income in the event that their wrestling career ends.

He says that Darren Young’s release hit him particularly hard because they came into WWE together, and started their main roster career together as part of Nexus. He felt that Young wasn’t really given a chance to excel on WWE television, but he gives credit to Young for coming out a few years ago, sending a positive message to many young fans around the world.

He admits that Emma’s release surprised him because she had been on television a lot lately and appeared to be doing well. He adds that Emma had some outbursts on social media over the last few months and those types of things rarely put you in good standing with the company. He knows that the outside world is a scary place for a lot of wrestlers and WWE’s guaranteed paycheque is a safety net, but there’s money to be made outside of WWE if you put your head down and work hard.

Ryback mentions that the upcoming Survivor Series PPV is really lacking in Title matches, but he doesn’t have an issue with that. WWE has a lot of PPV’s that revolve around defending Titles, so Survivor Series – which focuses on a completely different story of RAW vs. Smackdown – is a fresh change.

He admits to having no idea how WWE plans to book the Champion vs. Champion match featuring Jinder Mahal and Brock Lesnar. It’s definitely a challenge for WWE to continue to find suitable challengers for Brock Lesnar, and any potential matchup needs to come off as believable. He thinks Bray Wyatt or Rusev would be believable future threats to Lesnar.

Ryback says he loves The Miz, and he’s looking forward to Miz’s match against Baron Corbin. He actually came up through WWE’s ranks with The Miz and they’ve remained friends. He says that Miz isn’t the biggest or strongest guy but he works very hard, and whenever he’s given opportunities by WWE he consistently takes advantages of them.

Ryback likes that WWE’s using Kalisto and Sin Cara better as of late even though Sin Cara’s new music is completely garbage. He says that music is so important, and Sin Cara’s old theme always generated a reaction. His new theme is completely generic, and WWE often does this type of thing to halt a Superstar’s momentum for not go reason whatsoever.

That sums up today’s episode of Conversation with the Big Guy. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya tomorrow for another recap!