Look, by now, we should really be done with all the Ryback stories, especially considering he has yet to step into a wrestling ring since leaving WWE. But dang it all to heck, The Big Guy just won’t stop dishing the dirt. We had no idea the dude was going to be this captivating after his release. That’s probably why so many people in the internet wanted him to be released for so long, right?
His latest revelation is an extremely illuminating look behind the scenes of one of the most iconic pro wrestling moments of the past decade. From the latest episode of Conversation With The Big Guy:
“It was such a weird time, but they had this idea, I guess. And it was in Miami [Florida] and we’re all brought to TV. And this is after NXT had run its course. And, we’re brought into a room with Vince [McMahon] and Johnny [Laurinaitis] and Michael Hayes, where they explain to us The Nexus. And we have one chance, one opportunity, to go out there and get over. And if we don’t, we’re going to be f–king fired. And, like, our whole lives we’ve worked for this. And we were not given any instructions except to go out there and just cause hell and tear s–t apart and to go out there and get over, which is the best thing you can be told to do.
” … They let us go out there and do whatever outside of the physicality with John [Cena], at the time, outside of knowing what that was going to be, none of us really knew anything else going on. Just tear the ring apart. We haven’t done this before, and, like, just cause chaos and I think there [were] a couple of things, ‘hit this guy here, hit that guy there’ where we kind of [knew]. But we didn’t go in, and, like, and it came and it was such a beautiful moment. And it is something I will forever be thankful to be a part of.”
I have a hunch that this is a bit of a “Dumbo’s magic feather” situation, where the Nexus wouldn’t really be fired if they didn’t make as strong an impact, but you can’t argue that’s a hell of a way to motivate seven people to do everything they could. And the unscripted, unknown element is probably precisely why even now, their debut was such an impactful and memorable event. And why Daniel Bryan got fired for choking Justin Roberts with his own tie.
Ryback went on to say that the Nexus was treated as “kayfabe in full effect,” where they weren’t allowed to interact with the rest of the local room or have any interaction with Cena. He also talked about how Barrett was selected as the leader of the Nexus because even back then, he was so far ahead of where the rest of them were in terms of mic skills and a mind for the business. As usual, the podcast is extremely illuminating and worth a listen. Click here to check it out.
(h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription)
