Tuesday, November 20, 2012

What to Do with Ryback

The recent push of Ryback offered WWE the rare opportunity to capture lightning in a bottle. He had a great deal of momentum, but the key issue was presented both last month at Hell in a Cell and this past weekend at Survivor Series. Ryback was over to the point where a loss could cost him a lot of momentum, but the long term plans for the WWE Championship were such that CM Punk could not have lost the belt at that point in time.

John Cena was injured, so WWE had to plug someone into that title shot rather quick. Ryback seemed to be the hot new flavor for the fans. It was a hard road in those early months, but he was gaining a great deal of momentum with the fans. The chants of "Feed Me More" slowly replaced the ironic and often mocking "Goldberg" chants, where the WWE fan base declared Ryback to be a low recent version of the last bald headed wrestler who went on a win-loss streak.

Ryback's loss last month was a bit better than last month in preserving his moment. Three men attacked him, gang beat him, and took him out. Ryback was really utterly demolished by the trio of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns. The finish in Hell in a Cell was weaksauce, but Survivor Series marked an improvement.

With the event last night on RAW, the CM Punk against Ryback feud appears to not be over. We're moving towards a Tables Match at TLC between CM Punk and Ryback. If WWE were to put the belt on Ryback, they should have struck the hot iron on the first match. This would be his third failed title shot in many months if he had lost. A Tables Match really isn't a loss by any means, as a lot of the heat of the wrestler will be preserved.

The real question for Ryback is, did WWE miss a surefire opportunity? Only time will tell, if they should have struck while the iron was hot in October at Hell in a Cell. Where Ryback is in six months should be rather telling. He should have short, explosive matches, leave the longer matches for Pay Per Views, and keep off of the microphone. His attempts to speak really do kill his unbeatable monster aura.

WWE needs new stars, and only time will tell whether or not they missed the boat with Ryback's main event push and ascension to the top of the ranks. A slow and steady diet of wins should rebuild him, but lightning might not strike twice.

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