Ryback On Vince McMahon Lying To Him, WWE Convincing Him To Drop Lawsuit Against Doctor, More
Recently on Conversation With The Big Guy, former WWE Superstar Ryback recalled a time when WWE Chairman Vince McMahon lied to him and he claimed that WWE pressured him into dropping his medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor who apparently botched Ryback's ankle surgery.
In Ryback's view, McMahon lied to him before his third ankle surgery by saying he would never give up on 'The Big Guy'.
"This was another moment I'll never forget of him lying to me was at Extreme Rules, the one where Kharma debuted at in Tampa, Florida [May 1, 2011], back however many years ago. He sees me, this was before my third surgery, he comes up to me and we had a nice little lengthy discussion and he goes, 'I'll never give up on you.' He goes, 'we're going to get through this together.' He goes, 'I don't have anybody like you. You're going to make me a lot of money.' He goes, 'you know how to get over,' and he goes, 'that's something that not everybody knows.' And he goes, 'I'm going to allow you to make me a lot of money and I'm never going to give up on you,' were his exact words. And then, they gave up on me."
Ryback claimed that he likely would have "made out really, really well" if he sued WWE for its part in connecting him with the allegedly negligent surgeon, but all Ryback wanted was a chance to live his dream.
"I needed to know in case my ankle wasn't going to hold up. I don't know and I hadn't even gone back to wrestling yet. And with things that had happened with them and the things they had already done, and trying to fire me before I was cleared. And they didn't know, like, I would have been high and dry. I had no money. I had nothing at that point in time, living week-to-week. And it just wasn't handled appropriately. And they know that too. And having the attorneys, there was a very good chance, had I chosen not to wrestle again and, like I said, had I chosen to go to court against the WWE, I would have made out really, really well."
Ryback added, "but, and I told WWE this, all I ever wanted was an opportunity to live my dream, and make them money, and earn my money. And I told them time and time again. But I had to explore my options. They like to punch you in the face. They don't like it when you punch them back. I had to punch them back or otherwise, I would never have been there. Ryback wouldn't have existed as far as what people saw on WWE television and I had to fight for every inch that I got from that point forward."
According to Ryback, WWE convinced him to drop his medical malpractice lawsuit over the negligent ankle operation. As the story goes, 'The Human Wrecking Ball' was on a roll early on in his run as Ryback and he was told that he had to drop the lawsuit for his push to continue. Moreover, Ryback acknowledged that he should have trusted his gut instead of letting WWE compromise his financial security.
"I get a phone call from [former WWE Vice President of Talent Relations] Jane Geddes and like I told [podcast co-host Pat Buck] before, she texted me or emailed me at some point earlier in the week to set up for this phone call. And I'm not even going to go into depth about what I have on this because it's not worth it for the podcast. She finally gives me a call that I was waiting for because now I know I'm playing with the devil on every step of the way now from this point forward, and she tells me, 'Ryan, this phone call is off the record' and I go, 'okay' and she goes, 'do you want your standing in this company to remain good? Do you want your push to continue?' was essentially what she told me. And I said, 'yes, of course, why wouldn't it?' She goes, 'we need you to drop the lawsuit against Dr. Herscovici immediately.' And so, this was a multimillion dollar lawsuit, not against the WWE. It was against the doctor who did this surgery to me that caused all this damage that was an open and shut case from everything I was told from my team of attorneys. And I'm so angry with myself looking back at all of this, that I didn't trust my instinct. Any time I've trusted my instinct, I'm fine. And, but, you have to remember, so she essentially just threatened me with my push and everything going on, getting the chance to live my dream, money, finally, at this point, I'm making really good money now and everything, so they waited till just the right time."
Additionally, Ryback indicated that WWE started to mess with him once the statute of limitations on the lawsuit lapsed.
"I thought about it and I called the attorneys and there was I believe it was a three-year time limit or two-year, there's some sort of statute of limitations of how long you have to file the lawsuit. We were getting near to that period or it was something. It wasn't that far away. But the moment I agreed to, 'okay, I will drop the lawsuit,' and the moment that lawsuit expired, is when they started really f–king with me. Yes, where you saw that stop-and-go and you saw the seven straight losses."
Ryback professed, "this is why it's so in-depth with me, so deep, and so personal, and because not only did they just f–k with me from a creative standpoint, they cost me security for the rest of my life, something I had a right to follow through with based on what this guy did to me, the pain this f–king guy caused in me having to overcome all of this, and me trusting them to get an opportunity. And all I asked them was for an opportunity to let me go out there and get over."
Click here to check out the podcast. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Conversation With The Big Guy with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Conversation With The Big Guy