Ryback Weighs in on Drew McIntyre’s Royal Rumble Win and Chances Against Brock Lesnar, Says The Fiend Should Turn Roman Reigns Heel

On his latest Conversations With the Big Guy podcast, Ryback discussed the results of the Royal Rumble and what Drew McIntyre should do now that he’s got the main event of WrestleMania. Ryback talked about why McIntyre was the better choice to win over Roman Reigns and what McIntyre’s chances are against Lesnar, as well as Reigns’ reported match with Bray Wyatt and how that could be used to turn Reigns heel.

Highlights from the discussion and the full video are below:

On Roman Reigns not winning and Brock Lesnar’s run: “[Reigns has] been getting booed again, it’s been building. I think the whole cancer stuff has ran its course and people are back on the — and they’ve gotta be careful with that. And I think, for what they did, I gotta say, I enjoyed that Royal Rumble match with Brock. I wish … my personal opinion, I wished they would’ve kept that going [Lesnar’s run]. It would’ve been the most memorable Royal Rumble to beat all the way through 29 guys. Can you imagine that reaction though if they did that the whole way through? And I get why you don’t do it also, because you are running the risk of it will pay off, but are people [going to accept it]. I think it would’ve been awesome because Royal Rumbles are all the same, kind of. That would have been a great [match].

On McIntyre winning the match: “Great call on Drew. I’ve been with him down in development, FCW, and seeing everything he’s gone through. And getting himself back there, man, and busting his ass. My only thing is, is this going to be just a filler? It’s a main event match, but just a way — because Drew has never been the quote-unquote ‘chosen one.’ He’s not Roman Reigns as far as how they treat Roman. We’ve seen that they changed, they had several people they were thinking about winning. That tells me that it’s not necessarily, this isn’t to pull the [trigger], to fire off Drew McIntrye and strap the rocket to him. It’s a guy that has a believable shot, a good story going into WrestleMania to keep Brock as champion. Which will suck for Drew, momentum-wise. It’s great all the way up to it, but that’s my thing is, we’ll have to wait and see. It’s really interesting. I like Drew getting the opportunity.”

On what McIntyre needs to do now: “Now Drew, I think, is in a position politically where you need to, this is a spot, just so people to understand what’s going on, this is a once and a lifetime opportunity. If I were him, I would be, you’re gonna be working harder than ever. Not in the ring, but backstage convincing everybody who has a f**king opinion that you need to be the one to go over. But we’re in the time and day, and period and age and all that, where that has been taken away from the talent. So we’ll see how he’s used going into that. He’s gonna look great, he’s in a great position. He’s gonna make good money going into this, but what happens for that.”

On Reigns’ match with Bray Wyatt: “And Roman, I saw, going with The Fiend. I’m hoping this is — and they used Roman to get over Drew, which was a great call. Great call. They have to be listening to these boos with that. And I think this is a great time. I think you could actually use this to turn Roman heel eventually. I think it would be a great opportunity, and not to make the same mistake you made with Cena, keeping him babyface for so long, actually let Roman get more over. He will get more over as a character. He’ll be more popular than he’s ever been if they actually allow him to go that way. But I think you need to make this all about The Fiend going in. And the Fiend should be the one to maybe, finally gets Roman to turn like Seth did. I think that’s a cool story down the road.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Conversations With the Big Guy with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.