10 Promos That Totally Changed Your Opinion Of A Wrestler
5. Ryback Loses His Aura In Two Minutes
Before the promo:
Many a limited meathead has travelled through the WWE system, but Ryback was different. He had a real presence that accentuated his colossal frame, and an ability to manipulate arena crowds with his intense, composed body language. He grasped his character very well in the ring; the Terminator-inspired act seemed to boot up in there, gradually, drawing people in, and those crowds were dialled-in to his dumb fun squash matches. Even in 2014, he got over long after WWE had given up on him.
After the promo:
In September of 2015, Ryback's brain seemed to break in a promo so disastrous that it compelled many to think that he never had it. Ryback put over the Intercontinental Title and its rich history of fighting champions. "The key word in all that," Ryback said, "is "fighting champions"". He always struggled with the concept of the number two. He thought Terminator 2: Judgement Day was so called because there were two robots in it.
He stumbled through his words and repeated them gracelessly, clearing recalling the script, and in a in a deeply baffling non-sequitur Ryback then appeared to memorise the layout of his match, as if repeating the instructions of a road agent out loud because he was too daft to remember his own sh*t.
"Meathook clothesline..."
*Weird arm movements"
"Shellshock!"
"Come on Big Guy, you do this four nights a goddamn week, we can get there!"
"1, 2, 3!"