Former WWE Superstar Ryback spoke with ESPN for a new interview and discussed his WWE release, butting heads with Vince McMahon and more. Here are some highlights:
On butting heads with Vince McMahon backstage: “Vince has that old school, tough guy persona. I have had many talks with him where he said, ‘Well, they don’t want to hear you talking about books.’ Well, why not? I can go out there and talk about whatever I want. But when that red light goes on and I’m out there fighting, you’re never going to question me. You’re not going to go, ‘What a dork, that guy reads books. What a sissy.’ No, I kick ass.”
On feeling like WWE was burying him: “I would go get myself over with their TV time and then on the big moments when I needed to win, they never let me win. The name of the game is winning, point blank. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that and looking at me with zmy style and that intensity, if you don’t win the big ones from time to time, it’s really hard to get some momentum. But when I am given two minutes to go out there and lose? You can’t have a guy look like me go out there and lose in two minutes. You can’t do it. You are telling [the fans] that he is a piece of s— and they know that.”
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