Ryback Says WWE Didn’t Know What They Had With Him

Did the WWE let one of their biggest draws slip through their fingers? That’s exactly what former WWE Intercontinental champion, Ryback believes. On an episode of his podcast: Conversations With The Big Guy, Ryback spoke about his departure from the company. He also spoke about WWE ‘missing the boat’ with him and his character.

“I always said, ‘you guys have a guy that can maintain and stay healthy on the road for you and not fail a wellness test and work with everyone from top to bottom and know how to get over. You’re not going to capitalize on that?”

Ryback continued:

“Come on! They missed the boat. They didn’t know what they had and I’m fine with that. I’m going to show the world what I am now”

Ryback wouldn’t be the first superstar that the WWE didn’t quite know what to do with. Wrestlers like Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes and John Morrison all grew tired of their characters gaining any traction and left for the independant circuit.

In the hopes of cashing in on his name value on the indys, the wrestler once known as Skip Sheffield had his name legally changed to Ryback. He spoke about it on an earlier podcast.

“I legally went and changed my name to Ryback. For many reasons, one of which I owned and created and used before my time in WWE. I am very proud of so, I went through the proper steps, through Clark County in Las Vegas. It cost a lot of money and I go in front of the judge September 1st, but when this airs, hopefully everything is approved, but moving forward I will be known as Ryback Alan Reeves moving forward. I don’t think anyone, outside of Warrior has done this. I feel like if my name was a little different, I might second guess it, Ryback is not so off the wall, or so different than Ryan.”

Where would Ryback be if he had stuck around in the WWE? For the man who never escaped the Goldberg chants, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he wouldn’t have been booked as fodder to the former WCW champion. Do you think the WWE missed the boat? Would you like to see The Big Guy make a return somewhere down the road? Let us know in the comments below.