Ryback opens today’s Conversation With the Big Guy Podcast by speaking about Brock Lesnar’s surprise appearance at this past weekend’s UFC event. He points out that Brock Lesnar is in a field of his own right now as a part-time UFC fighter and a part-time WWE Superstar. You can say what you want about Lesnar, but nobody can fault his ability to market himself and to generate income for himself and his family.
It’s pretty incredible in Ryback’s opinion that Lesnar has been able to excel at the level he has in two completely different businesses; WWE and UFC. He points out that Lesnar is a legitimate heavyweight who has to cut to make weight as a heavyweight, whereas Daniel Cormier will be lighter than Lesnar, coming in at around the 240lb mark. This should be an advantage for Lesnar, but we’ll have to watch to find out.
Ryback is unsure whether Lesnar will hold the WWE Universal Title up until this fight with Cormier, which won’t take place for another 6 months or more. However, he notes that it would be a great situation for WWE if Lesnar were able to defeat Cormier for the UFC Heavyweight Title, making him a Champion in both UFC and WWE at the same time.
Ryback talks about Kane’s Mayoral race, and the notion that he could be distracted from his job as Mayor if he continues to work for WWE. Ryback doesn’t think Kane would have any issue balancing his day job and a part-time role with WWE at all. Being a Mayor is just a job, and if Kane decides to work a couple of dates for WWE on the weekends, then Ryback doesn’t see any issue with that at all.
News broke this past week that WWE will be paying NXT UK performers just $31,000 on one-year deals. Ryback notes that WWE developmental has its ups and downs. Years ago most developmental talents would receive $250-$300 a week, and on rare occasions someone would get $750 or $1000 a week, but that was nearly unheard of. Most performers love the notoriety of working for WWE, but the money is not always as luxurious as fans might think.
Ryback says he loves Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler, and he’s really looking forward to their 30-minute Iron Man match this coming Sunday at Extreme Rules. He thinks those guys would have been able to pull off a 60-minute Iron Man match and he thinks both men would have preferred that, but they’ll tear the house down in their 30-minute match nonetheless.
Ryback says it would make sense for WWE to pull the trigger on a Rusev WWE Title run this coming Sunday. He’s not sure what WWE will do, but he’s hoping that WWE makes the right business move here by putting the Title on Rusev. He notes that this is how wrestling promotions make new stars, and a loss here wouldn’t hurt A.J. Styles in the least.
Ryback talks about NJPW star, Takahashi breaking his neck during a recent match. He points out that working as a professional wrestler is all about putting on a great show for fans by making a scripted match look real, but your goal has to be to stay healthy while doing so. He can’t imagine any scenario where he’d agree to take the suplex that Takahashi took which resulted in his broken neck. He doesn’t think there’s any need for those types of moves.
He notes that the idea of taking intentional risks in order to impress fans is simply stupid, adding that “f***ing marks” think like that. The business has been taken so far nowadays that it’s nearly impossible to impress fans, and everyone knows the business is a work anyways so there’s no need to kill yourself in the ring. In addition, Ryback points out that the wrestling business won’t be there for you when it’s too late, so performers need to take precautions while they work to ensure they can stay healthy and continue to work.
Ryback talks about his original Skip Sheffield Trunks that had “SS” on the front. He notes that one of WWE’s rules at the time was that performers couldn’t have logos or anything on the front of their trunks because they thought it drew too much attention to the performer’s penis. Ryback was told to have one S removed in order for the trunks to be utilized. He laughs, noting that performers are in their underwear to begin with, so that was a strange rule.
That sums up this week’s episode of Conversation With the Big Guy. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here.
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