Ryback On Goldberg's WWE Return In Spite Of Him, Confronting Vince After 'Mania Plans Changed, HHH
On episode 29 of Conversation With The Big Guy, former WWE Superstar Ryback speculated that current WWE Universal Champion Goldberg's return to WWE was to spite 'The Big Guy'. Ryback called Triple H a "master manipulator" who has changed the professional wrestling business. Also, Ryback talked about confronting Vince McMahon after hearing that the former WWE Intercontinental Champion was no longer winning The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31.
Ryback shared that he watched WWE Fastlane on the WWE Network.
"I watched that on my WWE Network that they've refused to cancel for me because Vince, 'Goddamnit, let him watch! The guy needs to watch! He'll miss us eventually.' Yeah, I watched the whole pay-per-view or the majority of it and they do what they do. I have nothing bad to say. They put the [Universal] Championship on [Goldberg] and I don't think he [has] wrestled that long since he [has] been there, but he hasn't had to."
During the podcast, Ryback suspected that WWE brought Goldberg in because the former Skip Sheffield left Titan Tower. Ryback, who drew many 'Goldberg' chants from the WWE Universe during his run with the company, suggested that Goldberg should have returned four or five years ago for a feud between the two.
"There's part of me still that looks at that and is like, 'come on, guys. Is part of this because of me, because I left?' Like, I don't put anything passed them at this point. Why wasn't he brought in while I was there for the last five years or four-and-a-half years, when that was the match that would've made absolute sense?"
Ryback added, "you're a billionaire. It's a game. It's a game and he has his toys and he plays with his toys and he likes to do things. And I look and part of me really believes it's just like a like in spite of things and it's just whatever."
According to Ryback, Goldberg looks great and WWE has done a good job of not overexposing him. 'The Human Wrecking Ball' went on to say that the WrestleMania 33 main event match between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar will be brief because Goldberg probably cannot have a longer match. Ryback speculated that the Fastlane match with former Universal Champion Kevin Owens would have been longer if WWE planned for the WrestleMania bout to go the distance.
"[Goldberg] physically looks very impressive, but you can just tell he's an older human being now and I think anybody who tries to deny that is being ridiculous, but I think he [has] done a phenomenal job of being Goldberg still to the best of his ability and they've done a good job with him." Ryback said, "if they were going to [have a longer WrestleMania match], they would have tried it out with Kevin to see and they didn't, so there will be some shenanigans for that, to switch the title over to Brock, probably. I'm sure eventually that will be the case."
In Ryback's estimation, Triple H gets what he wants more often than not because he is a "master manipulator" and he has McMahon wrapped around his finger and whoever Triple H likes gets protected.
"Hunter has changed the [professional wrestling] business tremendously. He's in Vince's ear all the time. He's getting what he wants more often than not. And Vince, I feel like it's just such a crazy environment. I don't want to go down that route, but it's like whoever Hunter likes seems to be the ones that are protected, and he's a master manipulator at convincing Vince." Ryback continued, "I just feel like Hunter has Vince wrapped around his finger and gets whatever he wants. And there's something to it and I don't know the intricacies of it, but there's something going on in that end that I'll never be able to understand and don't care to really understand. But it seems like whoever Hunter likes [are] the ones that are protected."
Ryback divulged that he was told that he was winning The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31, but the plans were changed the day before 'The Showcase Of The Immortals'.
"I was under the assumption from what I was told by some of the creative staff that The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal that year, if you remember, they did a package of my workout video, the heartfelt video, that I was going to win The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal."
Ryback claimed that he confronted McMahon at WrestleMania about how bad it was working for WWE.
"I remember WrestleMania, that Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, sitting in gorilla [position], going back and forth with him, telling him how bad it sucked being a WWE Superstar. With Vince and gorilla cleared out. I was furious." Ryback remembered, "I go, 'this place sucks. Everybody's scared. Everybody walks on eggshells' and I go, 'it sucks being a WWE Superstar.'"
Ryback reflected that it was a difficult day for him and that most WrestleManias were "unpleasant" for him.
"It was a really, really frustrating day for me on that end and I had to go talk to him. I've never gone in there to change a finish. I even told him, 'I don't give a f–k about your finish – let Big Show win.' I told him that straight up, but I was pretty heated and everybody that was in gorilla, all the producers and Stephanie [McMahon] was in there. They all left and it was just me and Vince for 30 minutes probably." Ryback stated, "we talked about a lot that day and nothing changed and I always felt that it was empty and it was like WrestleManias were always such an unpleasant day for me there."
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Source: Conversation With The Big Guy