10 WWE Stars Who Peaked Too Early
4. Ryback
If you’re big, muscular, and in possession of at least rudimentary wrestling skills, there’s a great chance Vince McMahon will push you to the moon. That’s exactly what happened with the former Skip Sheffield, who was rebranded as Ryback in April 2012, and immediately started running through WWE’s jobber ranks.
The Goldberg comparisons were inevitable, and Ryback was plagued by mocking chants throughout his early run. Several months after debuting, Ryback’s push kicked into overdrive when he confronted WWE Champion CM Punk on a September episode of Raw. From there, ‘The Big Guy’ fought Punk for the title at Hell In A Cell, but lost to a screwy finish, and was attacked by the debuting Shield in his rematch at Survivor Series.
Ryback lost the feud with The Shield, and his career never recovered from being shot into the spotlight so soon. He quietly disappeared into the midcard, and RybAxel eventually killed what remained of his momentum. A mini-resurgence saw Ryback become Intercontinental Champion in 2015, but his run was entirely heat-less, and he was released following a pay dispute in May 2016.