10 Times WWE Dropped The Ball With Ryback
2. Not Beating CM Punk For The WWE Championship
The former Skip Sheffield spent nearly two years on the inactive list due to a severely injured ankle, and upon his return to the ring in April 2012, he was repackaged as Ryback. He embarked on a path of destruction for months on end, squashing multiple opponents at a time and begging the WWE Universe to "feed him more."
In the matter of a month, he went from feuding with Jinder Mahal to challenging CM Punk for the WWE Championship at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. Punk was originally scheduled to face John Cena before he suffered an injury, and without any other top-tier babyfaces to pair Punk with, officials turned to Ryback.
While the rivalry was rushed as a result, Ryback organically got over with the audience, and fans were desperate to see him give Punk his comeuppance. The only issue was that Punk was in the midst of his record-setting reign as WWE champion, and since they were set to do battle inside Hell in a Cell, there was no way Punk could retain the title without handing Ryback his first defeat or vice versa.
Essentially, WWE backed themselves into a corner with the match. Since The Big Guy was one of the company's most popular stars since the Summer of Punk, that would have been the time to put the strap on him, but he lost in controversial fashion and was never again a threat to the title.