The Ryback Situation: Where Does He Go From Here?

So now that Ryback has something he thinks he can really feed on, what’s next?

Absolutely nothing.

After a year without the WWE title, expect John Cena to get a lengthy title run. While Ryback  has ascended the ladder at a steady pace, he’s still yet to get “over.” A win over Mark Henry could have done wonders for him. It could have went a long way in making him the company’s monster. Instead, he’s just a no-sell machine that will have a place on the card, but will never shine.

Lets be fair here. While Ryback can entertain, what is his max potential? He’ll never have a half-hour match with The Rock at Wrestlemania and killing off mid-carders is bound to get boring. It’s doubtful any of the true megastars in the WWE, The Undertaker, CM Punk, John Cena, even Chris Jericho, will ever put him over. Hell, Mark Henry won’t. At this point, he’s just a runaway train that is running out of stops. Eventually, his game of crushing the competition will run its course, fans will get bored and he’ll do one of two things, reinvent himself or go to TNA and do the same tired shtick all over again. In a few years, you can almost bet on the latter.

Ryback may be a WWE superstar, but he’s not quite a star  yet and has a long way before he’s super at anything he does in the ring.

Fresh off that loss to Mark Henry at Wrestlemania, Ryback’s stock rose significantly after he took out John Cena on RAW this week. But with a lack of overall charisma and a finisher that is far from devastating, Ryback will soon find himself in Bryan Clark country.

Who?

Real wrestling fans remember Bryan Clark, AKA Wrath, AKA Atom Bomb as a scary big man with a great look and loads of potential. The guy was pure power. He never sold. He didn’t have to. All he did was destroy people. But in the early ‘90s, the market was saturated with muscle-bound freaks of nature and Clark, even though he held the WCW Tag Team titles with Brian Adams at one point, was never the type of performer he could have been. Aside from a power move machine, he didn’t bring much else to the table.

While Ryback often gets compared to Goldberg and he should be, Goldberg was adored by fans in WCW. He fought against the nWo and had an offense that was much more than the Spear and the Jackhammer, including kicks, submissions and a variety of suplexes. Although he doesn’t get much credit for it, Goldberg was decent on the mic as well.

Aside from “Feed me more” being similar to “Who’s Next” and the cosmetic similarities, Ryback is much more like Clark, a guy with size, strength and a great look who doesn’t have the true support of the fans.

Don’t let all his promise fool you though. Ryback is still learning on the job. This is the same guy who was on Tough Enough with The Miz. Considering that, he’s a slow learner and may not truly get to the point where he can be more than a monster. Unless he diversifies his game, it won’t last much longer.