THE BRASS RING: Has Ryback benefited from injuries to established stars or has the injuries forced a failed push?

We were first introduced to Skip Sheffield AKA Ryback in 2010 as a beefed up cowboy looking to ditch the flannel and get over with the fans shouting out “YEP YEP, WHAT IT DO”. He then broke his ankle, had 3 surgeries and was sidelined for well over a year. Returning in 2012 as Ryback he dominated local jobbers and disposed of mid-card talent marching his way up the ladder in a slow fashion. In recent times a slow build on a character has been the right thing to do in terms of development and progression.  He was going in the right direction, learning his craft and trying to build a fan base with the words “FEED ME MORE”. Move on 5 months later and WWE’s cash cow John Cena gets injured, which could disrupt his ongoing feud with CM Punk and their booked Hell in the Cell PPV match. All of a sudden in steps Ryback into a catch 22 situation as he has only been on TV for 5 months but could get over with the fans if he has a good match........and he did!

His rise continued as he when into feuds with CM Punk, The Shield and Mark Henry but the jury was still out and there were still question marks about Ryback with being a stiff work, limited promo work and the fact that he got a WWE Title shot only 5 months into his main roster career. So I ask the question.........Did Ryback benefit from John Cena’s injury??

Fast forward another 5 months and Ryback gets a Wrestlemenia payday against Mark Henry and The Rock gets injured in the main event against Cena. With Cena’s continuing feud with The Rock out of the question as The Rock takes his dummy and runs and with CM Punk losing his smile, Ryback gets another shot at destiny and they turn him heel. The quickness of this is very questionable as he went from being a big monster beast who was starting to get over, to a forced heel who can’t buy a boo to save his life, looking like a scared Springbok running from a Lion. Now because Ryback is a “heel”, do we deem his current heel push a flop because of the failed crowd responses? Only time will tell as he begins to get better at promos backstage and to the live audience.

I would be stupid if I didn’t think a fresh new character like Ryback isn’t good for WWE television, but with Ryback constantly being pushed into the main event scene, no other new wrestlers ready for main event status and now with John Cena being injured again, will Ryback raise to the occasion or will these injuries to other stars come back to haunt him?

Whats your view on the matter?

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Written by Kinny Killa