Ryback Talks WrestleMania Frustrations & His WWE Exit

– During a recent edition of his podcast (transcript via wrestlinginc.com), Ryback spoke about his WrestleMania frustrations and his exit from WWE…

On WrestleMania Week: “WrestleMania week was always hell for me. One, because I wasn’t happy with the pre-show for the last three years. And then, the Mark Henry match at 29. That was all fine. That was my first one. That was stressful in a different way.”

On Being Stuck on the Pre-Show: “I sitting in the locker room and there were WWE, some Legends in the battle royal that was supposed to be on the main show and guys like when Baron Corbin, that was his debut at WrestleMania and I’m just like, ‘I’ve killed myself year after year for this company and, like, proven time and time again,’ and I was just like, ‘I’m on the pre-show.’ And I’m sitting there and I’m like, ‘they show up and they’re on the actual show.’ And there was a lot going on that day and that’s just my honest, true feeling on it. Nothing against [Corbin] or any of them. They all should have that opportunity. I think it’s great, but I just wanted it too.”

On His Pre-Show Stopper Weight Belt: “John Cone, who I’m… I’m a big fan of John Cone. Sorry, John, if I get you any heat for this. But he has always been a normal, good dude.” Ryback added, “he was like, ‘they’re saying ‘take off the weight belt’ and I was like, ‘tell them to f–k off’. It was great. And it was on multiple occasions out there and whatnot. And I was already… I was checked out at that point. That pre-show stopper belt in Chicago [Illinois] the next day, they were furious at that, but I didn’t wait to talk to anybody. I just left and got changed. I drove off, left.” Ryback said, “I was already decided in my mind that I was done. I would’ve liked to have stayed there for the remainder of my contract.”

On Realizing Vince Would Book Him Poorly on The Way Out: “This is nothing against Titus O’Neil, but I just know how they view him as far as… and how they’ve used him. They’ve never gone through with anything on him and whatnot. And there was a battle royal for the number one contender for the U.S. Championship and rather than taking the guy who was the number one contender for the last two pay-per-views, and having him have a strong showing – I get it, you have to move on and move the next guy in, but psychology-wise, you would think you would have me in there till the very end to show why I was a worthy U.S. [title] contender, just to have that because I was the last guy following him and the very first eliminations were Titus O’Neil eliminating not only me, but me and Apollo Crews together. And this is just me being honest, as I always am. As soon as I heard that, I realized Vince was going to start the ‘s–tting on me even more’ phase until my contract [ended] because of everything going on with the contract. And I was like, ‘I’m not playing his f–king games anymore.'”