Ryback Talks Jinder Mahal's Push, Why WWE Shouldn't Expand In India, WWE Not Taking Care Of Talent
Recently on Conversation With The Big Guy, independent pro wrestler and pro wrestling podcaster Ryback Reeves talked about WWE Superstar Jinder Mahal's recent push, WWE trying to appeal to India, feeling unsafe working in India, and an incident where encountered corruption in India while working for WWE.
On the subject of Mahal's recent push, Ryback said it is good to see different talents get opportunities. Moreover, 'The Big Guy' professed that tonight's Backlash pay-per-view will be Mahal's opportunity to show whether he can hang at that main event level and that WWE may keep him in the mix if he performs well.
"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with giving a new guy an opportunity. That's how you discover if you've got guys that can hang or not. The thing with him is it's going to determine, and, obviously, if he's given any amount of time on the pay-per-view, that's his time to show what he can do. And, again, I just think it's? there's always a reason. They do what they want. It's their company and they can get any amount of mileage out of him they want, no matter what the match quality is because if they just want a heel to keep in that position, they'll find a way to make money with it for a while until they want to dump it, but, like, if he goes out there and performs at a high level, they might keep him there longer. Do you know what I mean? Like, so we'll see."
During the podcast, Ryback admitted that he does not understand why WWE is trying to appeal to the Indian market.
"I don't know why. They have the TV deal, but people don't have any f–king money out there, so I don't know why they're trying to [appeal to that market]. I heard that the merchandise sales out there aren't good. No s–t! Like, I've been to India. They don't have money. There [are] certain people that do, but the ones that do, I'm pretty sure aren't f–king watching fake fighting."
Ryback described India as a "unique" part of the world that made him appreciate living stateside even more.
"Man, I don't know. I've been there. It is a unique place, that's for sure. You realize how good we have it over here when you go to places like that." Ryback added, "you realize just how overpopulated the world is and how bad [it is]. It's bad."
According to Ryback, the only time he has ever felt unsafe was making an appearance at a mall in India.
"I've been there for my media appearances years ago for WWE and I had to do a mall appearance, like 13,000, 14,000 people on like a tri-level mall," Ryback recalled. "They had to run me out of there. When it was over, the people started rushing the barricades and we had only one WWE security guard with me and that was it. I swear to God, it's the only time I'd been concerned for my safety ever. And they ran me out of there, threw me in a van, and drove me straight to the airport and flew me home."
Apparently, during Ryback's final tour of India with WWE, he was asked to return to the embassy along with Kofi Kingston, and Dolph Ziggler after safely arriving at their hotel.
"We get to the hotel this last time and the security guard who is no longer with WWE, John Marx, tells me, Kofi, and Dolph, 'yeah, you guys have to go back to the embassy' or something, 'something's going on – they need to see your passport.' And I said, 'the f–k they do!' I go, 'I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here and I'll go to the f–king show.' And I go, 'I'll go to the airport with everyone else and go back home.' Like, I'm not going to be taken out on a Goddamn bus at night in India to go to the embassy. I already knew what was going on. They're very corrupt over there in different parts of their government."
Despite initially refusing to make the trek back to the embassy, Ryback somehow found himself back at the embassy as government officials tried to get tickets and "bribes" from WWE.
"Sure enough, he says, 'no, you have to f–king go. They've requested you, Dolph, and Kofi.' So whatever guy there that was requesting this, he was just fans of me, Dolph, and Kofi. And we had to go there. They tried to bribe money out of WWE security and the WWE representative and tried to get a bunch of free tickets and they wanted cash for whatever reason while we sat in a f–king room."
Ryback acknowledged that he hates going to such places because he says they are corrupt. The former WWE Intercontinental Champion argued that WWE should have done a better job taking care of its talent.
"This really let me down. I was like, 'they don't give a f–k about any of us.' I was just like, 'they let us get pulled out of this hotel to go to this f–king thing and the WWE security guy took care of us. But who knows what? and those guys were fans of us, which is why they wanted to meet us, but we were put in this vulnerable position in a different country over money. That s–t should have been taken care of before you go over there. Do you know what I mean? Or they should have said, 'you guys stay at the f–king hotel. We'll take care of this,' not, 'we're going to sacrifice your safety while we go work this out in their f–king territory. I remember getting really hot over that. That shouldn't happen to anybody. Like, I don't like going to these places because it's not f–king? the rules aren't the same. f–k them. I thought it was bulls–t."
Feed Ryback more podcast downloads here. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Conversation With The Big Guy with an H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription.
Source: Conversation With The Big Guy