Are WWE Fans Buying Into The Ryback Hype?

Added by DieHard Derek on October 23, 2012.

I’ve been really critical of the WWE product for a while now, but the truth of the matter is that the WWE product has lacked ANY effort since Wrestlemania. It’s literally been a year long shit-slide, and apparently the WWE has decided to take some analytic risks but developing new stars in preparation of the post-Cena era. The problem is, these don’t feel like stars. They feel more like shit being forced down our throats.

Vince McMahon is a major control freak. Therefore, he doesn’t want to sit back and identify with what is working and what the fans are responding to. He considers you, the (paying) viewer, his droids. He expects to tell you how YOU feel and what YOU want. Enter Ryback.

I’ve never met the the guy, but like you, I’ve seen his work. And before I break it down a bit, let’s look at a quick list of talents that were forced down our throats and immediately regurgitated into obscurity.

Alex Riley
Mason Ryan
Wade Barrett
Drew Mcintyre
Lord Tensai
…I could do this all fucking day!

The point that I am trying to make is that if you continue to force feed the people you want to be stars, you’ll be killing off the talents who already are stars. How many times did The Miz put over his protege Alex Riley? How many times did Dolph Ziggler have to sell for Mason Ryan? How many times has Wade Barrett been repackaged? Point proven. Now back to Ryback.

The fans have actually taken a liking to this guy? I personally think he’s greener than the Incredible Hulk’s shit, but he has a little spark that can easily catch fire…if creative knew what the fuck they were doing.

Ryback’s problem is that he looks and acts like the “poor man’s” Goldberg. Then again, any jacked up muscle-head that doesn’t sell for anybody is going to be compared to Goldberg. What WCW had was lightening in a bottle, and if you remember correctly, Goldberg was heavily compared to Stone Cold Steve Austin. Bald head, black tights, black boots, goatee,…that’s fucking Austin. But it wasn’t. Goldberg was able to break the stereotype and earn the respect of the fans. A respect that for a unique intensity that people hadn’t seen since the debut of The Ultimate Warrior in the mid-80′s. He was a human wrecking machine who felt no pain and felt no fear. So what if Ryback is a reincarnation of Goldberg? Doesn’t this generation need one?

Perhaps it’s just in his presentation? Maybe he doesn’t look the role? I won’t even bring up the botched spots because Goldberg and The Warrior botched plenty of them. Perhaps Ryback’s look is too bland. Should he take a page out of the Road Warriors and wear spiked football shoulder pads? Should he paint his face like the Warrior and tie show laces around his arms? Ryback needs to find that unique look to match his strength and brute style. I thought the WWE was master marketing machine? So how do you sell Ryback to the kids? How do they dress up as him for Halloween? okay, so you have the catchphrase, “Feed me More”. Now what?

Something is missing…or is there? Maybe Ryback just isn’t the guy? Then again he’s main eventing in six days for the world title against CM Punk at the Hell In A Cell PPV. It will be a HUGE fuck up for WWE creative to drop the ball now with him, yet they’ve put themselves in a serious dilemma if he can’t deliver the goods.

Is he getting too much too soon? Goldberg worked his way up to Hogan. He held that US title and dominated with it for a long time before he got the nod. Same with Warrior. He spent over a year dominating the mid-carders as Intercontinental champion before earning the right to main event with Hogan. Ryback isn’t there yet. And all I can taste are Vince’s knuckles as he continues to push Ryback deep down our throat.

Ryback may be limited, but he has the gimmick that creative should be able to get over. (Keyword: SHOULD). But if he fails, and creative’s record of success is an indicator that it could very well happen, are we just supposed to forget that we the fans invested so much into a guy that gave us so little?

**************************************************************************************************
What do you think? Leave me your comments, and let’s talk about this on Facebook and Twitter.
You can interact with DieHard Derek by following him on Facebook and Twitter.
**************************************************************************************************
This post is brought to you in part by Jersey City Pest Control and Bayside Condos