Ryback Opens Up About WWE Contract Offer And Issues With Company On Podcast

Ryan Reeves aka “The Big Guy” Ryback had a very public and very heated ending to his WWE career. He was displeased with a number of issues with the WWE before his official release from the company August 8^th 2016.

In the first episode on his podcast “Conversation with the Big Guy” (which can be found on iTunes) he discussed that he was not happy with creative because of how he had been booked. He felt he was never considered the guy for the WWE and felt confused when they put the Intercontinental Title on him in 2015 which is also around the time they started their contract negotiations.

He stated that Vince McMahon told him that he would be the companies number 1 heel if he would just read the scripts that he was given. Ryback also stated that he was supposed to face AJ Styles at WrestleMania 32 and that Vince told him he would “squash that little twerp.” It was highly unlikely that would be the case considering how the WWE booked and promoted Styles as he came into the company. Ryback was pretty much an afterthought by this point anyway so why would the WWE put him over Styles? Ultimately, he went against Kalisto on the Kick Off Show.

Traveling expenses were another issue for Ryback. He stated the WWE wouldn’t cover any of the talents traveling expenses. Ryback said that he would travel by himself so his expenses would be more expensive then guys that travel together. He felt the WWE would take advantage of the talents love for wrestling by not covering their costs because they know the wrestlers are taking advantage of the opportunity using the NXT wrestlers as an example.

Ryback was quoted saying “Not about a money issue, just so everybody knows, I walked away from the WWE, the contract offer that I walked away from was a three-year $1.5 million contract.” He was not happy about the contract and broke it down further saying that $600,000 of the contract would be taxed and that his travel expenses alone would be another $150,000 easy. Seemingly he felt it was a joke and said he and Triple H had a number of heated conversations about the money issue.

Whether it was mostly about the money or the other issues he has come forth about is for you to decide and debate. Ryback said that he was very thankful to the WWE for everything they had done for him. Ryback included that he felt he learned about his work ethic from Vince McMahon in particular.

Ryback is booked to make a number of independent appearances, start a supplement line and release a motivational book. All of which can be found on his website FeedMeMore.com