Ryback Turned Down A Lucha Underground Contract After Leaving WWE


It might be hard to believe, but Ryback has now been gone from WWE for over a year. In his time since leaving the company and picking up work on the independent scene, he’s been one of the most outspoken wrestlers in the entire world, never afraid to voice his opinion or spill some tea.

Not too long ago, Ryback shared a great story about Vince McMahon thinking he was too fat to wear anything but a singlet, and sang the praises of one Roman Reigns. Oh, and he also took shots at John Cena and suggesting Cena doesn’t have any balls. Our basic point is that the Big Guy finds ways to keep busy, and we don’t necessarily mind it when he shares his various bon mots.

On the latest episode of Ryback’s Conversation with the Big Guy podcast, the titular big guy talked about enjoying life on the indies, but also spoke at length about Lucha Underground, which of course has finally confirmed that it will return for a fourth season.

Lucha Underground has taken some fire at times for locking up talent to long-term contracts — contracts that grant television exclusivity to Lucha Underground, even though in the case of the last season, some contracts didn’t end until the last episode aired, even if it happened to be some 18 months after the shows were actually taped. Lucha Underground is now willing to grant contract releases to talent who request them, but it was one of those exclusive contracts that kept Ryback from going to Lucha Underground when he parted ways with WWE. Here’s what he had to say. (Transcript via Wrestling Inc.)

“When I left WWE, they had reached out for doing a season and they wanted to do a contract where, essentially I couldn’t do anything for a year. You are done filming in two to three months and it’s bullsh*t. I said no thanks.

“People think it is cool to say that you signed a contract, but you are really being dumb as f*ck if you don’t look over the contract. Everything revolves around making money, but a lot of these businesses will do things that are not good for you, and you have to be smart enough. They prey on the price of how bad you want to be ‘famous’, but I’ve got news for you, doing it is not going to make you famous, on that level. It’s great and a different product and option, but you have to have a business sense with this stuff. It is good that they are being more fair on that aspect also, which is a good thing.”

For the record, he also had good things to say about Lucha Underground:

“I think it’s good. It is a different product, where they are more of a drama with wrestling on it. It is just a different product,. The more places there are for guys to get work then that is good. I am glad that they are doing a season 4, and allowing guys to work at other places.”

Maybe with the new contract structure, Ryback might finally head to the Temple. It’s too bad we missed out on him being Night Claw XL or Mecha Texano or whatever. Let’s keep that dream alive.

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