Smark Out Moment

On this seventeenth edition of SUPERSTAR SCORES, we take a look at someone who may have wrestled his last match in the company this past week at Payback, as reports of a contract dispute and a potential release in the summer (or sooner) are circling The Big Guy, Ryback.

If you're unfamiliar with how the segment works, here is a quick breakdown: Each edition, a wrestler will be put under the spotlight and rated on a 0-100 scale based on 10 categories that have been broken up into 5 umbrella sections: In the Ring Skills, On the Mic Skills, Appearance, Behavior, and Crowd Reaction. The rating scale is as basic as you can get: 0-1-2-3-4 | 5 | 6-7-8-9-10. It follows the Three-Count Critique method of green being the good, yellow being in the middle, and red being the bad. A perfect 100 is the goal.


Update: On March 20, 2020, we did a recalibration of points for a 25th episode special. In that episode, nearly every wrestler saw some adjustments. Below, you'll see the original scores on the left and then the updated score on the right, with the original description for the original score underneath. For explanation on the updated points, check out the 25th edition podcast.

IN THE RING SKILLS

Athleticism: Does the person have a good signature moveset and finisher? Can they perform a wide variety of moves on a regular basis and not botch them?

My Rating = 7 / 6
For someone his size, I'm surprised he can do some of the things he does. Granted, he's not as shocking in the ring as Kevin Owens or Apollo Crews or anything, but for a big guy to go on the ropes and do anything is a welcome change of pace. Ryback wrestles a relaxed enough style that his athleticism can go one way or the other, but I'm more on the positive side of things with it.

Psychology: The wrestler's ability to tell a story in the ring. Do they make you believe it's real or do they forget to sell their injuries properly? Can they make a long match stay interesting and not get boring?

My Rating = 6
Ryback does his job, but he also doesn't seem to wrestle the style that he probably should, sometimes. I find it hard to believe in him selling some of the blows from people much smaller than him, such as his matches with Kalisto, so he loses some points there, but he's also not specifically *bad* at doing his job in this regard. Put him in a match that suits his strengths or in one that exposes his flaws, and both situations show.

ON THE MIC SKILLS

Charisma: If they get a mic, can they cut a promo without stuttering? Are they repetitive or do they keep things fresh?

My Rating = 6
There's something intriguing about his character even when he struggles on the mic. Usually, he's going to say something either intentionally cool or unintentionally hilarious.

Character: Is their gimmick(s) interesting? Can they pull off being both a heel and a face?

My Rating = 7 / 6
Sometimes he can be a bit flat as a babyface when he's trying to just be a smiling tough guy, but I enjoy watching Ryback on screen, and the heel bully version of his character was the best by far.

APPEARANCE

Physique: Are they in the proper shape for their gimmick or are they out of shape? (note: someone like Mabel isn't supposed to look like John Morrison, but Matt Hardy gaining weight deducts his points).

My Rating = 10
Dude is jacked and exactly the type of over-the-top muscular stature that WWE should want in a superstar.

Entrance: Their music, the pyro if they have any, whatever taunts or actions they do to make it interesting.

My Rating = 7
I like his theme, I like the whole "wake up, it's feeding time" gimmick, but I wish he would have actual pyro instead of just the sound effect.

BEHAVIOR

Backstage Professionalism: Are they a locker room leader or do they cause problems behind the scenes? Are they bogged down in politics? Do they put other people over or screw people over?

My Rating = 7
His current scenario is going to affect this quite a bit, but right now, I'm on Ryback's side. It seems like he's always just eating shit and supposed to grin about it, so I'm sure I'd be frustrated in his position just the same. We haven't heard much bitching until now, and he's had many opportunities to complain about the way he's been treated with things like his loss to Mark Henry at WrestleMania and poor treatment after his winning streak, etc.

Public Relations: Does this wrestler project a bad image onto the company with arrests and such, or are they someone that promotes the company well, does charities, talk shows, etc?

My Rating = 7 / 6
This whole "power of positivity" thing could have been more, and Ryback strikes me as the type that would have taken advantage of that if given the opportunity.

CROWD REACTION

Popularity: How loud are the cheers and boos for them? Do they sell merchandise? Are ratings up or down when they're on screen? How many Twitter and Facebook followers do they have?

My Rating = 7
At one point in time, Ryback was ridiculously popular and one of the most over talents on the roster. Sadly, WWE screwed that up, and his support from the crowd has diminished ever since. He still gets chants as a babyface, but it's as if they don't want him to be popular and try to keep him around this range.

Credibility: Is this person someone you would see as a main eventer and a future legend or are they doomed to forever be a jobber?

My Rating = 6
Ryback should be much higher, but they keep screwing him over and stopping his pushes, which has made it so someone who should be a main event talent in my mind is instead a guy that I can see losing in most situations. All it would take is for them to give him some wins and his credibility would be reestablished like it was when he was on his winning streak.

TOTAL SCORE: 70/100 - 67/100

FINAL THOUGHTS: I've been a fan of Ryback ever since he went out on his own post-Nexus, so I'm willing to give him more credit than a lot of other people have over the years. He's not going down in the history of WWE as one of the top legends of all time by any means, but I think he's deserved more in his career and should have achieved a world title reign back when there were two belts. At the very least, he should be prioritized a lot more, and hopefully WWE will come to that conclusion soon instead of releasing him.