10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Payback
4. The Ryback Connection
To steal a line from Randy Savage, Ryback very much had a "cup of coffee in the big time" during his WWE tenure. After an injury removed Skip Sheffield from the Nexus, the real-life Ryan Reeves would return in April 2012 under the Ryback mantle and embark on a tear through the roster.
While that initial rise up the card saw Ryback come up short against then-WWE Champion CM Punk, a heel turn post-WrestleMania 29 put the Big Guy up against John Cena, who by this point was once again in possession of the WWE Title.
At the first ever Payback back in 2013, Ryback was positioned as a major player, as shown by his main eventing against Cena for the WWE Championship in a Three Stages of Hell affair. Headlining a PPV? Against the biggest star of the modern era? It doesn't get much better than that.
Skip ahead just three years and Payback would again be noteworthy for Ryback, but this time for being his final appearance for WWE. Losing to Kalisto on the event's pre-show, Ryback and his Pre-Show Stopper trunks departed the company shortly after due to a pay dispute.
From the Payback main event to the Payback pre-show is quite the journey in a three-year spell.