10 Absolute Worst Ways WWE Dragged Out Feuds
4. Any Old Stunt Will Do
The John Cena Vs. Ryback programme of 2013 was ill-advised in concept and terrible in execution. It served only to reinforce an act strengthened to an already numbing degree, and ruin a talent who, for all his subjective limitations, had forged a bond with the audience (as evidenced by the last truly impressive number of the pre-Network Era).
Ryback had faded as a babyface; typical WWE storyline stuttering had already, and how they've not worked this out yet is infuriating, halted his momentum. And so he turned following a loss to Mark Henry - where a win may have swelled his head and built him as a credible threat - and Fed John Cena More in a two-PPV series which, sadly, seems restrained by 2018 standards.
To get to that second meeting, we required a bit of the ol' bullsh*t, the years and years of which have eroded investment in the product. This specific bullsh*t centred around a rubbish stunt we were asked to believe was sufficient to put both men away for the Last Man Standing 10 count. One of these men was John "F*cking" Cena, a man to whom the number "three" was as alien as attractive ring attire.
Ryback picked Cena up and almost gently carried him through a curtain of LEDs that crackled pathetically in the aftermath, mirroring the pathetic pop generated from the audience.