10 WWE Superstars Who Sabotaged Their Own Careers
8. Conversations With The Big Head
When Ryan Reeves first debuted under the Ryback name in 2012 (having played a forgettable cowboy fella glorying in the name of Skip Sheffield in the game show version of NXT), he seemed destined for the big time. The character was full of fearsome, slightly wall-eyed intensity with a great look - it was like someone accidentally blended Batista with a Brazil nut.
Ryback was given the traditional WWE push, and after six months was flung carelessly into a short feud with WWE Champion CM Punk, during which he was awarded three Slammys.
He must have thought his ship had come in: and even though he plummeted down the card the following year he was still convinced he was supposed to be the next big thing.
That’s the thing with Ryback: his opinion of himself has always been a little out of sync with reality. The reality was that, without that monster protection from the office he was good but not great. His ‘feed me more’ chant was always more over than he was.
Refusing to adjust his expectations, Reeves began negotiating hardball for his contract renewal in 2016, and when staged a dramatic walkout when he didn’t get the consideration he felt he deserved, ranting on his Tumblr account the following day about wrestlers’ rights, and the pitfalls of an unequal and inconsistent pay structure.
After three months of cooling his heels at home, Reeves announced he’d left WWE. The company announced it three days later: they’d forgotten all about him.