Ryback On How The 'Feed Me More' Catchphrase Was Created
During his run in WWE, Ryback's "Feed me more!" chant was widely popular among the WWE Universe. On a recent episode of his Conversation With The Big Guy podcast, Ryback revealed how he came up with the chant. Unsurprisingly, the story involves food.
Ryback explained that when he was working at a restaurant, he wasn't making enough money to afford his own meals. The cooks were kind enough to give him free food when leftovers were sent back to the kitchen.
"Back when I was working at a place called 'Smokey Bones,' I would eat so much food. The cooks knew how much I loved to eat. Oftentimes, people would take a bite out of the steak, and this would be the most expensive steak there, and for whatever reason, they wouldn't like it, and at that time I was really struggling. The cooks would give me free food, but I ate so much that I had to end up paying a portion of my money by tips for food throughout the day," Ryback said. "Oftentimes, especially during slow periods I would order a couple of chicken breasts and put them on the table and take a bite on the table as I am hustling. I would be there all day from morning until night, so I would cut the piece of the part that they bit off then I would eat the other part that wasn't bitten. I would have multiple aprons and dry clean them. I would put the steaks in my apron and just take bites of the steak. Sometimes it would be so busy that I wouldn't have time to cut the bitten part, so I would just eat the opposite end and once I got close I would throw it away."
Ryback said he developed a close friendship with the cooks and they enjoyed giving him meals. They also supported his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. The "Feed me more!" chant became something very meaningful to him because it represents a time in his life where he was struggling and he was able to turn it into something positive.
"One of the cooks there, they took great pride into feeding me. They would cook extra stuff and hide it. There would be a half of rack of ribs in the back and I would have to find it. It wasn't a joke because I was there from morning until night. Everyone assumed I would make it in pro wrestling, even after I had originally been fired. They got great pride into feeding me more. The cook one time said something like, 'feed me more.' So, I got the idea from that. I would say to them, 'feed me more,' and they would hide food for me to have to go and find it. I originally said it to them and it then became a joint thing, but on WWE TV I kept saying it so it stuck from there," he said. "The arms, I got the idea from Bloodsport, and it looked silly, but it was different. I was doing this arm taunt that didn't have words with it. After the 'feed me more,' I started to do it with the arms and then it just started making sense, and it just happened, but the idea came from 'Smokey Bones.' It has great meaning to me because I own it and the idea that the cooks would feed me when I had nothing, so it holds a special place in my heart because I created it when I was starving, both literally and figuratively."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Conversation With The Big Guy with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Conversation With The Big Guy
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.