Calling Mick Foley fat doesn’t make you a heel. It just means you can see. Like a struggling Shakespearean thespian, Ryback’s pacing promo this week on RAW showed some promise, but it’s apparent he still doesn’t have a clue.
A heel doesn’t have to hate on the good guys. He doesn’t have to insult them. He has to embody hate. He has to be an insult. Dolph Ziggler is a good example of this. Everything he does, from the pushups in the ring and the showing off, to his entourage and constant trickery lets fans know he’s not someone you want to get on the bad side of.
Ryback is a wrecking machine, make no mistake, but he’s essentially an aimless one. It doesn’t help either that he can’t sell. It limits what creative can do with him and even though promo is important, what’s more important is what goes on in the ring. That’s where fans fall in love or hate with you.
This guy needs a manager desperately. The same way Dutch Mantell and Paul Heyman add an extra element to Brock Lesnar and Jack Swagger, Ryback desperately needs someone with his best interests at heart.
Because at this point, the semi-scripted jibber-jabber that’s coming out of his trap is a mess.
But who could do it? Are there any good managers left in the WWE? At this point, it would be cool to see Brad Maddox and Ryback squash their issues and unite to fight The Shield and agree that Cena is a monster depriving audiences of ingenuity and entertainment and that a new face of the franchise is needed. It could work, especially considering Maddox’s charisma and how this could be his way at getting back at Vikki Guerrero. But in the end, that potential angle could benefit Maddox more than Ryback.
At any rate, Ryback continues to prove his lack of an extra dimension can and will hurt his ability to climb the WWE ladder.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Calling Mick Foley fat doesn’t make you a heel. It just means you can see. Like a struggling Shakespearean thespian, Ryback’s pacing promo this week on RAW showed some promise, but it’s apparent he still doesn’t have a clue.
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