[Starbuck]

If you dislike him because you don't think he can work a match or because you don't find him entertaining then that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you dislike him because he was in developmental too long and has a silly catchphrase, that's just being silly. Ryback certainly isn't without his faults. I don't think he's particularly good in the ring. Hell, I witness first hand a Punk/Ryback match at a house show last night and it boring as shit. But there is a place for Ryback's in WWE and I'm certainly not going to hate on the guy because he was in developmental longer than usual. What reason is that to hate on somebody? Again you're coming with this WWE don't trust him to do x, y, z stuff but I don't know how you can say that. His gimmick dictates what they let him do. Why would they have him wrestle 15 minutes matches on Raw when he's supposed to be a squashing machine? Why would they put him inside HIAC with a much smaller guy and be forced to go 25 minutes when it would make him look horrible? Your reasons for disliking him are stupid tbh.

[The Cynical Miracle]

Originally Posted by Starbuck

If you dislike him because you don't think he can work a match or because you don't find him entertaining then that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you dislike him because he was in developmental too long and has a silly catchphrase, that's just being silly. Ryback certainly isn't without his faults. I don't think he's particularly good in the ring. Hell, I witness first hand a Punk/Ryback match at a house show last night and it boring as shit. But there is a place for Ryback's in WWE and I'm certainly not going to hate on the guy because he was in developmental longer than usual. What reason is that to hate on somebody?

Its not because he was in developmental for nearly a decade as to why I don't like him. Its the fact that he was in developmental for nearly ten years and he's still this mediocre and this green is baffling to me. What more help can he possibly need to improve? the FEED ME MORE wackiness is only the cherry on top.

[Evil Peter]

Originally Posted by Starbuck

How is a short junkie looking guy who says he's the best in the world believable when his manager looks more intimidating than him?

How is a guy in jorts and colorful t-shirts who cuts some of the most ridiculous promos and gets shit on by half the crowd every night believable?

How is a guy who pretends to be dead believable?

How is a guy who talks in the third person and constantly tries to get shit trending on twitter believable?

How is a guy with a larger than usual nose who constantly references his dick believable?

You really want to go that route? Ryback hasn't exactly set the world on fire but he has appeal. He may not appeal to you but that doesn't mean that he can't appeal to others. I'm not completely sold on him but I'm not going to shit all over him because he's getting a chance. You whine and bitched for how long about Punk never getting a chance. Now other people are getting chances and suddenly it's a horrible thing that should never happen. Stop crying. If you're so certain Ryback is going to fail then wait it out and he'll be gone in a couple of months. What's the problem?

You've never seen people claim that they are the best even when they aren't? I've seen that countless times in real life so that's believable. It's of course special who can win a wrestling match because wrestling has it's own set of rules and physics but we were talking about characters.

Apart from the shirts it sounds like you're talking about Jon Jones (UFC LHW champ). He says a lot of dumb and corny things and wants to be liked but is disliked by a good amount of the fanbase for being fake.

A guy that pretends to be dead is unbelievable and it's always clashed with the more modern style of wrestling environment. Especially since he's not always pretending but can actually perform magic.

What's supposed to be unbelievable about someone talking about himself in third person and using Twitter? That can't happen in real life? It has. The same goes for having a big nose and talking about his dick.

The thing was that Ryback acts incredibly strange since he's never talking normally, which we knows because we've seen him in all kinds of scenarios (backstage with his boss, with someone from Subway, in interviews, in in-ring promos, during matches etc). Just because there are other unbelievable characters doesn't mean that you have to agree when someone calls Ryback's character believable (which was what generated the notion that he wasn't believable, it wasn't dragged up out of nowhere).

[JY57]

people can talk trash about Ryback all they want and blame him for bad ratings (their opinions, nothing wrong with that). In the end doesn't really matter, because Vince is obsessed with the guy and sees him as one of his top faces of the future. And right now that is what Vince is going to do (push him and push him even more). He won't be 1 or 2, but he can easily be in the top 5 of the company, as long as Vince is around. Have no idea what HHH and Stephanie think of the guy, so who knows what they will do with him once Vince is gone.

[Starbuck]

Originally Posted by jblvdx

Its not because he was in developmental for nearly a decade as to why I don't like him. Its the fact that he was in developmental for nearly ten years and he's still this mediocre and this green is baffling to me. What more help can he possibly need to improve? the FEED ME MORE wackiness is only the cherry on top.

That's fair. Simply disliking him because he was in developmental longer that usual just seemed very childish to me tbh. I don't have an issue with Feed Me More. Some of the most iconic catchphrases of all time are ridiculous. As long as they're over, it isn't a problem.

Originally Posted by Evil Peter

You've never seen people claim that they are the best even when they aren't? I've seen that countless times in real life so that's believable. It's of course special who can win a wrestling match because wrestling has it's own set of rules and physics but we were talking about characters.

Apart from the shirts it sounds like you're talking about Jon Jones (UFC LHW champ). He says a lot of dumb and corny things and wants to be liked but is disliked by a good amount of the fanbase for being fake.

A guy that pretends to be dead is unbelievable and it's always clashed with the more modern style of wrestling environment. Especially since he's not always pretending but can actually perform magic.

What's supposed to be unbelievable about someone talking about himself in third person and using Twitter? That can't happen in real life? It has. The same goes for having a big nose and talking about his dick.

The thing was that Ryback acts incredibly strange since he's never talking normally, which we knows because we've seen him in all kinds of scenarios (backstage with his boss, with someone from Subway, in interviews, in in-ring promos, during matches etc). Just because there are other unbelievable characters doesn't mean that you have to agree when someone calls Ryback's character believable.

You're watching a wrestling program. If you can accept a deadguy as a believable character you should be able to give most things a go. Ryback is a huge dominating monster. He doesn't need to talk to get his character across. He goes to the ring, he destroys people, he chants and he leaves. He isn't wildly sophisticated or complex. That's what he does. It's simple and it has appeal otherwise he wouldn't be over and people wouldn't care. Like I said before, is he taking the wrestling world by storm and causing a revolution in viewership with his push? No. But CM Punk didn't last year and neither did Randy Orton the year before that when Raw was all about him. He's something different and I'm not about to hate on somebody because of their catchphrase of all things.

[The-Rock-Says]

People on here have said they've seen him wrestle before Ryback and he's a decent worker.

But as Starbuck says, his gimmick right now is to be this big monster face that fucks people up quick and easy, Putting him in 15 min matches right now kinda ruins the aura around him.

[Rock316AE]

imagine someone who hasn't watched wrestling before and seeing a jacked up grown man lifting his arms up and down shouting FEED ME MORE over and over again. They would think its ultra lame and stupid and only lends to more evidence as to why wrestling isn't cool anymore.

I can agree with that in the same way I said in the past that big guys shouldn't be selling for a skinny guy like Punk, Bryan doing the horrendous YES act, or team "Hell No" doing their "I'm the tag champions" act. When something is so goofy and unrealistic in a main event character, it can hurt the general audience's interest. And I'm not talking Taker here because he's 100% a wrestling character. Ryback can definitely try to get the "Feed Me More" chant over in a different way(It's already over big, like you saw on RAW, they're chanting it when he's not even in the ring), like what he does in the matches with the fist motion. Other than the taunt, he's completely believable in every aspect. His presence and facial expressions are always spot on, he looks visually impressive every time he wrestles.

As for the length of the matches. Why do you want to book him in 15-20 minutes matches when the basis of his character is that he can kill his opponents in 2 minutes? It's the same thing with the tag match on RAW, why you want to see him in the ring selling and Cena gets a hot tag, when he's not supposed to sell? He already dominated Punk 4-5 times, why suddenly you want them to book him to sell for him for 6-7 minutes just so Cena can get the pin? It was a simple booking, Ryback is booked above the roster, nobody is a threat to him yet. It doesn't matter how many years he was in OVW because in this kind of character, the booking execution is critical to keep the aura. It's much more important for him to be protected and destroy everybody, than to wrestle a regular 10 minute match, to sell or to do new moves. They chose to create this character and to make him a main eventer, they need to protect him and that's what they're doing now. Goldberg did it better *13 years ago*, so yeah, Ryback is fresh and it's working because like I said, the majority of the audience that was there when Goldberg was a megastar is no longer watching or following wrestling. Ryback is already hot and making a difference on PPV a month into his main event run, that just shows his huge potential.

[Evil Peter]

Originally Posted by Starbuck

You're watching a wrestling program. If you can accept a deadguy as a believable character you should be able to give most things a go. Ryback is a huge dominating monster. He doesn't need to talk to get his character across. He goes to the ring, he destroys people, he chants and he leaves. He isn't wildly sophisticated or complex. That's what he does. It's simple and it has appeal otherwise he wouldn't be over and people wouldn't care. Like I said before, is he taking the wrestling world by storm and causing a revolution in viewership with his push? No. But CM Punk didn't last year and neither did Randy Orton the year before that when Raw was all about him. He's something different and I'm not about to hate on somebody because of their catchphrase of all things.

As I said, I don't accept Taker as believable these days (it was a different environment when he had his debut), I just try to ignore that aspect when he's on. I do the same with Ryback, but if someone states that he has a believable character (which was what happened here) I'll disagree.

As for Ryback not bringing a revolution of ratings I don't care. I've never faulted wrestlers for not being big draws as that's irrelevant to whether I enjoy what they do. Ratings are only relevant to me as a way to help me predict what WWE will do.

[Starbuck]

Originally Posted by Evil Peter

As I said, I don't accept Taker as believable these days (it was a different environment when he had his debut), I just try to ignore that aspect when he's on. I do the same with Ryback, but if someone states that he has a believable character (which was what happened here) I'll disagree.

As for Ryback not bringing a revolution of ratings I don't care. I've never faulted wrestlers for not being big draws as that's irrelevant to whether I enjoy what they do. Ratings are only relevant to me as a way to help me predict what WWE will do.

You don't accept Taker as a believable character? If that's the case then I don't even know how you can watch wrestling tbh. That character is probably the most ridiculous thing ever but it works and has worked for years because of the way WWE have presented it to us. But if you don't buy Taker then yeah, I can see how you won't buy Ryback.

I don't care either. This misconception that people who discuss ratings only mark for those who draw is fucking ridiculous. I've never faulted wrestlers for not being big draws because it's also irrelevant to whether I enjoy what they do. Most of the people in here don't do that either. I was merely commenting on jbldvx's obvious bias for Punk and against Ryback. Ryback loses viewers and he's pathetic. Punk loses viewers and it isn't his fault.

[Amuroray]

Cena and ryback with the ratings.