Ryback On How SmackDown Can Differ From RAW, Changes He'd Like To See In WWE, Longer Matches, More
As previously noted, Wrestling Inc. was on hand for a media conference call earlier this week with former WWE Intercontinental Champion, Ryback, as 'The Big Guy' promoted WWE SmackDown's move to USA Network.
During the conference call, Wrestling Inc. President Raj Giri asked Ryback what from the past he would like to see brought back to WWE programming. Ryback suggested that he would like there to be longer matches, though he acknowledged that WWE is somewhat restricted insofar as the desire to put as many talents on television as possible competes with longer matches for television time.
"I can say this probably speaking for all the WWE talents: we love our WWE live events. And the reason why we love those so much is because we are able to go out there and to deliver great wrestling. In this day and age with WWE television programming, you have to have storyline development and advancement. That's how it goes." Ryback continued, "you want to try and get as many talents as you can on TV for that exposure every week, but sometimes that doesn't allow for the longest wrestling matches. Sometimes you have shorter segments because you're trying to get more talents in and that is the day and age. And people's attention spans are so much shorter because there [are] so many options on TV these days, so you can't always just have long wrestling matches."
Ryback stated that SmackDown could be a solution to this problem, as the blue brand could focus on in-ring competition while WWE Monday Night RAW could continue to be used to develop and propel storylines.
"I would love to see the SmackDown television show be all about the wrestling and for RAW to be more about the storyline developments and I think we have a great opportunity to do that moving forward because I believe with that it helps give SmackDown a different flavor to bring more eyes to the product."