8 WWE Superstars Who Could Have Surpassed John Cena As “The Guy”
6. Ryback
It was once rumored at the onset of 2011 that Vince McMahon saw Skip Sheffield as a future No. 2 babyface in the company (behind John Cena, of course). Mind you, that was mere months removed from his run in The Nexus, and he hadn't proved anything on his own yet.
He was still over a year away from re-debuting as Ryback in April 2012, but what Vince McMahon wants, he gets (until he loses faith and/or interest, that is). The rechristened Ryback ran through everyone who was put in front of him and built up an impressive undefeated streak, ultimately earning him a shot at the WWE Championship against CM Punk at Hell in a Cell.
We'll never know what WWE's original plans for him would have been had he not been quickly shoehorned into the WWE title picture as a result of Cena suffering an injury, but there is no denying that he was incredibly over at that moment. Officials opted to keep the title on Punk ahead of his title match with The Rock, but they could have easily allowed Ryback to maintain momentum despite the loss.
The Big Guy was badly booked from that point forward and never again came close to reaching the level of popularity he did before.