Smark Out Moment

Welcome to SUPERSTAR SPOTLIGHT, a new series of articles where we'll be taking an in-depth look at particular WWE superstars that are relevant at the moment. In light of his recent Intercontinental Championship win, this edition is going to focus on The Big Guy himself, Ryback.

(New Intercontinental Champion: Ryback)

When the Skip Sheffield character was rebooted as Ryback, he came into WWE and took it by storm. One by one, he was dismantling helpless opponents to the point where he was taking on two at a time. Seemingly, he was on his way to the upper echelon of the company, getting title matches against CM Punk and finishing the 2013 Royal Rumble as the runner-up. Surely, a big time WrestleMania match was in the works. He was placed in a singles match against "The World's Strongest Man", Mark Henry, in what was perceived to be a sort of coming out show for Ryback. Prior to WrestleMania, many members of the WWE Universe predicted Ryback to hoist the huge, 400 plus pound Henry over his head and Shell Shock him right in the middle of the ring. Rather than that, the two men had a sloppy, slow, and plodding match that saw Henry (oddly) pick up the win. This is where we started to see the demise of Ryback. He entered a program with then WWE champion John Cena, but this did him no favors other than having a pretty darn good 3 Stages of Hell match at that year's Payback.

After that, we saw Ryback become rather irrelevant. He was eventually paired with Curtis Axel, who was in a very similar position to him. RybAxel had a decent run as a tag team, but never struck gold and that's all that really matters in the long run. Just recently, have we seen a spark out of Ryback that could ignite the fuse to a main event singles run. After breaking up from Axel, the big man has returned to his original calling as a babyface. His "feed me more" chant seems to be getting louder and louder with each passing week and he is really starting to find himself not only in the ring but also on the mic. Ryback now has a personality; he's not that meathead anymore that simply comes to the ring and destroys every weak opponent put in front of him. He is now consistently putting on great matches with established superstars and earning the respect of every WWE Universe member out there. His recent program with Bray Wyatt ended with an awesome, hard-hitting match that saw Wyatt come out on top in the end, but it was Ryback's performance that ended up being the talk of the night.

At the last WWE pay-per-view, Elimination Chamber, Ryback was rewarded for his recent impressive showings and took a huge first step in revitalizing what looked to be a helpless career just a year ago. He outlasted five other top WWE superstars to win his first title since coming to the main roster and now holds the Intercontinental Championship. This is the title that originally was looked at as the gateway to the ultimate goal of a World Championship and if Ryback keeps doing what he is doing, he will surely join the supreme class of men to do it before him and be on his way to that ultimate goal. With the likes of Big Show, Sheamus, King Barrett, Bray Wyatt, and others on the horizon of challengers awaiting him, he will definitely get his chance to prove his worth as one of THE top guys in all of WWE. Just think of the matches Ryback could put on with the likes of Brock Lesnar or even a guy like Kevin Owens in main events all across the country! He would be a fresh and welcome addition to the rather shallow main event roster that the WWE is holding as of right now. As a fan of The Big Guy, I am very excited to see how his next year or two plays out. The brass ring is right in front of him but will he capitalize in this go around?

Hopefully you enjoyed this quick look at Ryback. What are your opinions on the new Intercontinental champion? Is this the peak that his career will reach? Will he go on to even better things? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!