Ryback opens today’s show by talking about the Greatest Royal Rumble. He points out that it was a lengthy event, but it featured a lot of great wrestling. It’s not one of the big PPVs, but they had to bill it as if it was one because they were being paid a lot of money by Saudi Arabia. In the end there were no Title changes and this show was basically an expensive live event.
Ryback is happy for Bray Wyatt, who has found success in teaming with Matt Hardy. He’s interested to see where they go from here creatively. He notes that Triple H and Cena seemed to be winging it for most of their match, noting that those guys probably only planned a finish before going out to the ring. He thought it was a great match and he enjoyed seeing those two guys working with each other and calling it on the fly.
He notes that Titus O’Neil’s slip was hilarious, but he’s glad Titus is okay because he barely missed hitting the steel beams that are under the ring. Ryback notes that if Titus hit his head on one of those beams he would have been knocked out for sure. He notes that Titus handled the entire situation great because there’s no choice but to laugh in that instance.
However, from a work standpoint Ryback says he’d be furious that WWE showed multiple replays of the slip because that’s a reflection of his standing in the company. He points out that the company wouldn’t show replays or highlights of that fall if it was Steve Austin, for example.
Overall, he’s sure this event led to a good pay day for a lot of the workers, and he thinks WWE are thinking long term here. Perhaps they’ll be able to bring their female employees over in the years to come and that’ll be a huge deal.
Multiple dirt sheets have reported that Batista talked with WWE about working with Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania this year, which would have lead to Triple H versus Batista at WrestleMania next year. According to Batista, he talked to Triple H and WWE for 3 weeks and then suddenly then stopped answering him.
Ryback notes that Batista seems to have a good relationship with WWE but he understands Batista’s frustration after being simply ignored by the company. Maybe Triple H and the company decided to go a different direction, but they could have at least talked to him about it.
He thinks a guy like Batista can come back as a heel or babyface, depending on how the crowd reacts to him, and make money for WWE. He thinks it’s strange that WWE wouldn’t see the value in Batista, especially given his successful film career. Batista is 50 years old now, so if he’s going to return for a final match it needs to happen soon.
Ryback notes that WWE are calling up a lot of talents from NXT here lately, and they need to be careful because the roster is getting fairly crowded and it’d be unfortunate if some of them get lost in the shuffle. He notes that the jump to the main roster can be challenging for some talents, because you get thrown through the ringer and you have to “stay above water” there.
He points out that your booking can be good one week and bad the next, and that can be confusing for talents. He adds that you have to establish good relationships with the creative team so you can fight for your character.
Drew McIntyre was one of the recent NXT call-ups, and he’s been paired with Dolph Ziggler. Ryback points out that McIntyre looked like he was being groomed for a big singles run in WWE, but that doesn’t appear to be the plan right now. He says that McIntyre and Ziggler have known each other for a long time and they have a great look together.
While WWE mightn’t have a clue what they’re going to do with this tag team yet, these two guys are going to go out and give it their all every night. Similar to Sheamus & Cesaro, Ryback thinks McIntyre and Ziggler can have success as a team.
WWE Hall of Famer, Jim Ross spoke out this past week, saying Ronda Rousey’s in-ring debut was the most impactful debut he’s ever seen. Ryback points out that there was a lot of pressure and eyeballs on Rousey that night, and she couldn’t really do any better than she did in that spot.
A listener writes into the show and asks Ryback which would require more cardio and conditioning: a 15-minute wrestling match or a 3-minute MMA fight. He thinks the MMA fight would be more demanding because you can pace yourself in a wrestling match. However, if someone has never wrestled before, they could get very beat out in a 15-minute match because they don’t know how the timing of a match works.
That sums up this week’s episode of Conversation With the Big Guy. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
