Ryback On the Perception of Him Being “Cookie Cutter”, Reveals Heated Talks with HHH, Why He Left WWE, Vince Not Seeing Him as “Their Guy”

As noted, former WWE star Ryback has launched his own podcast called “Conversation with The Big Guy”, co-hosted by Pat Buck. Below are some highlights from the debut episode, which you can listen to above and also subscribe to via iTunes and SoundCloud.

On the Stigma of Not Knowing the Real Ryback:

I believe there is a stigma among wrestling fans. I like to be multidimensional. I hate to place limitations on myself. I feel like professional wrestling over the years, you keep seeing the big guys be these big angry monsters, and that is the easy thing to go to, but you know, Ryan Reeves, the Big Guy, goes much deeper than that. I don’t think you can be handed a script and say, here, be your true personality because you can’t write for me. I can tell you that point blank that the best promos that I have ever done is when I am just being me, with all the adrenaline and energy, you can’t get that from a piece of paper.

On the Perception of Being a Cookie­ Cutter WWE Wrestler:

I remember when I first came to WWE as Ryback, and getting through the ankle injury and all that. Being hit with the Goldberg stuff, and I remember saying in interviews back then that when my WWE career is done, people will have a deeper respect for me but it’s going to take a lot of time, it’s not going to happen over night. But, you know, I’ve had a lot of things, like when CM Punk went out there and said the things he did, I’ve had a lot of things work against me that I have had to overcome, that I still have to overcome, but I am not a quitter, I am constantly hungry, I’m just going to be me and that is what I am doing with this [podcast]. People are going to go, you know, he’s not such a bad guy.

On His Last Year Run with WWE:

It’s very important about saying that this isn’t a b**ch fest, with me whining and complaining. I’m very thankful for the WWE for everything that I have in my life and for the man that I have turned out to be, and you know, with Vince McMahon and seeing his work ethic, I inherited a lot of that and it drove me to be a better human being with my time on the road, and I’m still growing and evolving, so this will never be about that, but on a business level I didn’t agree with them on a lot of different things. I don’t have a fear, and I refuse to live in fear and I think if people knew the true story, and they will hear the true story, because this is why I am here, and why I did the things that I did. This goes back to the last winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship. I remember Vince coming to me and saying that, in my mind, I feel like I have never been their guy, nor was I ever chosen to be their guy, and I kind of was caught off guard as to why they gave me the Intercontinental Championship. It felt kind of random, and I thought they had not committed to me on many occasions, and that was something that always bothered me, but you know, they put the IC Title on me, which was when things started to take a turn for the worse when they threw at me a new contract offer, and realized that it all made sense now. It was an offer that I was not happy with quite frankly, for what I have done for the company.

On Not Leaving the WWE Due to a Money Issue:

Just so everybody knows, it was not a money issue. I walked away from the WWE. The contract was a 3 year, $1.5 million dollar contract. I told Hunter…me and Hunter had plenty of conversations that last year and I would tell him that it’s not about the money, and he would respond with, well, it sounds like it’s completely about the money. He finally understood after we got off of our last talk that it was about creative, about limiting me as a brand, because I am responsible for the Ryback brand, that I believe and feel so strongly about, and when I was told that I have to go out there and lose in two minutes with no build to a pay per view match, which happened time and time again when I wasn’t given opportunities, or promos to be myself, that’s what bothers me. Or when I am told that I am not allowed to sell merchandise, that your merchandise is over on a ship for two years, when I can get it done in two weeks on my own, it’s little things like that that I wanted a commitment from on a much deeper end, and the money was just part of it. I was very happy about the money offer that me and Vince agreed upon, but there was so many other things outside of that. I talked about the hotels and the rental cars, and I will get into that too, because I already had it in my mind that I wanted out, and I wanted to make sure that when you have these other independent promotions that can cover your hotel and rental car, then they can cover it too. They are the largest company in the world, and I think the wrestling business has been a certain way for so long, and just because they did it a certain way, and had gone with it for so long, it doesn’t mean it’s right, and I think it’s time to start looking at things. The wrestlers are the core of the brand. Without the wrestlers, the WWE does not exist without the wrestlers, but you know, the wrestlers still exist without the WWE, but the WWE does not exist without its core, and that is the wrestlers.

Breaking Down the Expenses on the Road:

What people don’t realize is, you have to take that $1.5 million over 3 years, you take $600,000 out of that for taxes, 40% is what we are usually taxed because of the money we make, and then you put in travel expenses, and it depends because I travel alone, so my travel expenses are higher than when traveling with 3 or 4 guys who are trying to save money. My travel expenses was easily around $150,000 a year. It’s not at much money as you think when you take away that much expenses, and for what you put your body to, and what you are doing and for the amount of money you’re getting from the company, I just think it’s something that needs to be looked into and a lot of people, like I said, I don’t live in fear, so it’s not right, and if it’s not right, do something about it. People come in there, you know, we’re all fans of the business, and I feel that they’ve always preyed upon that, on people who love the business it’s because, where else are you going to go, especially the guys out of the NXT, who are so loyal to them, you’re not going to make this much money anywhere else, but you don’t know that. It’s just kind of being presented to you that way, but I think people need to start speaking up, more people need to, otherwise it’s always going to stay the same, but people need to have to have the courage, it’s not always right or easy when you have family or kids, but if enough people did it, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

To listen to the entire podcast, Conversation with the Big Guy, subscribe to ITunes, or listen to it on SoundCloud, which you can get by downloading the SoundCloud app.