Ryback On WWE Not Using Wade Barrett Correctly, Recent Social Media Digs At Rusev
On a recent episode of the Conversation With The Big Guy podcast, Ryback gave his thoughts as to why Wade Barrett didn't achieve more success in the WWE.
Barrett won the first season of NXT to earn a WWE contract. He was a former Intercontinental Champion and King of the Ring, but he never won a world title with the company. Ryback said he believes the WWE failed to properly utilize Barrett on many occasions.
"He's one of the guys that universally, everyone that was there, especially when I was there, the ball was dropped numerous times with him. He is a 6'6, 6'7, always in shape, but at one point he was in ridiculous shape," Ryback said. "For a guy that size you have a big frame already, he was absolutely shredded; even though he got a little thin at one point, he got so shredded, but they were not doing anything with him as far as being used. There were numerous points he should have won the Championship. He's had a lot of success there, they never pulled the trigger at the right times."
Ryback said he couldn't understand why someone like Barrett, who got over multiple times, wasn't given a proper push during his time with the WWE. Ryback said he hopes to see Barrett achieve success in another organization.
"When you hear something like that you ask yourself why? The fan reaction was there; even if he's not getting cheered people are interested in it. They are interested in it because of the guy. You can't just dress anyone up to play that role," Ryback said. "He is a superstar. He is a rare superstar that you should have maximized. Everyone that knows wrestling, that is involved in wrestling, he has a unique voice of a wrestler, he has a unique look as a wrestler; he has all the tools to do so much more; again, he has success there, but he's a main event superstar. He has been in the main event at times, and had runs, but he never got his just-do there. He made the right move by leaving. I know he had some stuff to take care of. I know his career isn't done by any means. I would like to see him being used correctly."
Ryback also discussed one of Barrett's League Of Nations stablemates, Rusev. He said he and Rusev are very good friends and are in constant communication with one another. He finds it funny when fans on social media take the jokes between them too seriously because he says they have no idea how close he and Rusev are in real life.
"He is one of my legit good friends in wrestling. We do live video chats together, we'll literally send video chats together, that is how we communicate. Like three minute long videos; he is a good guy," Ryback said. "I will make jokes about him on social media—he has this thing on television called 'Rusev Day' where everyday is Rusev Day, and I always say f*** Rusev Day, and there's people that will send me hate messages. You can't even joke with your friends on social media anymore. I can't tell you how many times on this show that I've said Rusev is one of my favorite people; of course, not everyone listens to this show, but clips online. The hate messages people will send where you just sit there and laugh because he's one of your closest friends."
If you use any of the quotes in 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
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.