Ryback - the next version of Goldberg?

[chaoskid]

So Ryback has been handled alot of jobbers and looking impressive with it, but what do you think about the future of Ryback?

[Mr. Tambourine Man]

WWE has tried time and time again to get guys over by having them squash jobbers in their first couple months.

This is not something new. The true test will be what happens say a month from now. Do they have the guts to let him mow through the WWE roster, or will he turn into another WWE superstar, tradining wins in every rivalry they put him in.

And honestly...there will never be another Goldberg. Never will there be someone with that size, power, agility, in-ring psychology, technical ability, etc. who just happens to get a monster push.

[Save_Me.Y2J]

Why why why do people keep comparing Ryback to Goldberg? The bald head? The winning streak? Once the jobber squashing subsides, Ryback will most likely be just another midcarder used to put over the Cenas & Ortons of the world. He will not be a big main event player like Goldberg that still has people talking 10 years after retirement. Period.

[RoughRoad]

Am I the only one who has high hopes from Ryback? This guy has something in him. And I am not saying this because of his squash matches in recent weeks. He impressed me with his intensity and mic skills back when he was Skip Sheffield. This guy is huge, is agile and surely knows how to work a crowd. He may not be the next Goldberg, but he may become the original Ryback.

[chaoskid]

I think anyone who come in and defeats jobbers in quick style and looking impressive doing it, and starts to have a undefeated streak will automatically be compared with Goldberg. I think the way that every match that Ryback has there is someone always watching him, I think WWE has big hopes for the guy, but only time will tell

[Turley]

I see more upside in Tensai at the moment.

Ryback looks very conscious of himself in the ring, it doesnt seem natural. He looks like a guy who is trying to remember his next spot, it makes the whole thing seem very choreographed. I dont really have high hopes for him in the next few months. Once he has had his share of jobbers, I cant see him moving into the Uppercard whilst there are so many good big guys ahead of him.

[nbdynprtcular]

If I had to guess, I would say the tentativeness (is that a word?) in ring is a result of how he is being booked. I saw him on NXT and he is much better in the ring than how he is being pushed. They need to turn the guy loose and stop trying to make him the robotic big man. Also, he is fairly decent on the mic, let the guy talk. Clotheslines are not going to get him over, let him get himself over.

[Maximo]

Am I the only one who has high hopes from Ryback?

No NDX gave me some milk saying "someone needs to find him!"
Before he was cool.
True Story.

[pkpunk]

Just because the crowd already chants "Gold-berg" during his matches doesn't mean he IS the next Goldberg. he needs to beat more than jobbers to try and get somewhere. they're finally doing something with Brodus, and Tensai got pushed very, very quickly. If all Ryback gets is 'TWO... IS GREATER... THAN ONE...", then, goshdarnit, I DON'T think he's gonna be going anywhere anytime soon.

[Shockage]

I don't mind a recycled gimmick, especially when it's been successful in the past. I think Ryback will be big, because wrestling fans like watching scrawny little nobodies get decapitated by monsters. We can't get enough of it.

[Darth Shizzel]

This is how Goldberg started first with Jobbers then he went on to feuds with the likes of Sting and Sid Viscious.

[Mr. Tambourine Man]

WCW had a super deep roster though. They could afford to let Goldberg dominate 1/3 of the roster before he even became a big attraction. Certainly working with all those guys helped Goldberg become the great worker he was when he finally made it to the top. Do WWE and Ryback have that same luxury?

[RasslingFanatic]

Ryback the new Goldberg? LMAO! Come on guys, we are better than this. Goldberg got over not because he was jacked and won matches, but because when people saw him it looked like he really was killing these guys and in most cases he was lol. Today everyone is jacked and everyone is a cookie cutter, butt kicker and that is why it won't get over.

[Turley]

I think this comparison is unfair to Goldberg.

People always forget that Goldberg could really work. The spots in his matches were always very good and he put on believable main event matches.
Ryback shouldnt be spoken about in the same sentence as Goldberg.

[Darth Shizzel]

No Goldberg knew how to be stiff but he never could do much unless it was in 10 minute matches, when Goldberg came to WWE Rock carried him to a decent match at Backlash but after that it became very well known how limited he was (still loved him because of the intensity)

Ryback is only young in his push I want to see him in a real feud before we get a good feel about him but maybe he might need a manager as well for when he needs to speak.

[Turley]

when Goldberg came to WWE Rock carried him to a decent match at Backlash but after that it became very well known how limited he was (still loved him because of the intensity)

That was the very end of his career.

Goldberg could work. His matches with DDP were very high quality. His early moveset shows that he knew what he was doing. The Bret Hart incident means that Goldberg gets a lot of criticism for being stiff. I saw him do a backflip in one of his first few matches.

Anything that happened after he came to WWE is sort of irrelevant because he had already created his legacy by then.

[Mr. Tambourine Man]

Yeah when I think of "limited" wrestlers, Goldberg does not come to mind. He's the only guy I know outside of Brock Lesnar who could literally wrestle every style at his size. Brawl, technical, power, "shoot", cruiserweight, you name it and Goldberg had it down. All that plus the in-ring psychology of a 10 year veteran only 1 year into his career.

The Goldberg/WWE experiment was interesting. After he'd spent his 3 year career learning to play the monster role, they wanted him to be Hulk Hogan for the new generation. It didn't work simply because the fans didn't want that out of Goldberg. But, judging Goldberg on his performance in that role I thought he did great. Goldberg vs. HHH at Survivor Series is a perfect example of that. HHH did his usual boring "methodical" long match, only Goldberg sold so hard for him that it actually worked.

[Veritas]

I don't know why, but I kinda dig Ryback. Yes he's very limited in the ring but he has improved since his Nexus day's and there's good indication that, given the proper time and, most importantly, proper treatment and protection, he could develop into a pretty damn good "monster."

I really get a kick out of his marching music and the way he power stomps around the ring, seemingly with the beat still playing in his head. I love it.

[Turley]

What will be make or break for Ryback is the transition from jobbers to "real" opponents. When should this happen and how should it happen? WWE have struggled with this in the past.

[The Indy Junkie]

My question is will Ryback hold a belt? or will he just go on destroying indy talent? I think to keep Ryback looking big he needs to destroy roster talent. They got a few he can destroy. Actually Ryback could be a good way to intro new teams, have him destory them then throw them into the tag fire.

[Turley]

This is how Goldberg started first with Jobbers then he went on to feuds with the likes of Sting and Sid Viscious.

Sting and Sid Vicious came along after the streak had ended. They came after a US title reign and a World title reign. They came after numerous main events.

Goldbergs first big win was beating Raven for the US title. It got to the point where he had slowly run through the entire roster. Then came the World title. Then came The Giant, Curt Hennig, various upper-mid carders. That was the key to Goldbergs success in my opinion. He got the world title before he got his teeth stuck into any really noteable feuds. He grew as a character WITH the belt. Once he had the belt and was seen as unbeatable (100+ wins) then the focus was able to come off Goldberg and onto his opponents. The story started to get told from the point of view of the challenger. I can remember Hennig talking about knowing the secret weakness of Goldberg that nobody else knew. Then the match came around and he targeted one of Goldbergs legs.... No longer was it watching Goldberg destroy someone, it had become watching someone try to beat him and the announce team backed this up by calling the matches in this way. That was the key to the success, he had been effectively booked as unbeatable. The fans believed it because he HAD the belt. This allowed the matches to always be different because the point of view had switched to that of the challenger, it was now a question of how can he be beaten...

Goldberg, in terms of a comparison to Ryback (which is what the thread is about) was finished by the time Sting or Sid came into the picture. Once Goldberg lost to Nash, then feuded with Bigelow, his unbeatable persona was gone.

[Goldie79]

I think Ryback needs his own identity.... but WWE have given him a Goldberg 'look' .... so its obvious that fans would immediately associate him with Goldberg #2.
Sure wrestling has a history of recycling gimmicks but few replicate the success of the original.... just ask Lex Luger when Vince tried to repackage him as Hulk Hogan #2.

Ryback can swallow up as many jobbers as he wants.... but I'm not convinced that he will smash through the glass ceiling like Goldberg did.
Goldberg was fresh and original..... Ryback is already associated with a couple of other wrestling personas (such as Nexus).... in similar vein to Lord Tensai.... despite the Jaspanese makeover many fans still associate him with Albert or A-Train.

[Darth Shizzel]

The crowd is starting to get behind Ryback a bit I have noticed that with this week's Raw but he needs to move on from Indy wrestlers and start plowing through the WWE jobbers even a win over Vader would be good right now as Vader was one of the top stars in wrestling (not so much WWF). and a few wins over the likes of Tyson Kidd, Heath Slater, Trent Barretta (is he still there), Drew Mctinyre guys like them it will be better then he can have that bragging right of defeating a few former tag team champions and a former IC champion.

After that I say take the US title off of Santino and have him plow through more guys defending his title in the process (keeping him away from Christian for now) and have him go through a couple of legends as well like Hacksaw, Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Ricky Steamboat just to add some extra guys to his list that were big names at one stage eventually have him squash Khali in about 4-5 minutes just to put him over that he can destroy anyone no matter how big they are and eventually win the IC title unifying them by Surivor Series and if he is over enough maybe get him the Heavyweight title match at Wrestlemania as well.

[Turley]

Darth, 2 things....

In the Slammiversary thread, you were criticising TNA for having Bobby Roode go through a 50+ year old Sting. Why then would it be essential for Ryback to go through Vader, Duggan, Snuka etc?

Also, and more importantly, why the rush? You have said yourself that the crowds are starting to warm to him. That is proof that the current formula is working well.

[Darth Shizzel]

You been smoking something I was complaining about Sting making Roode look weak, and its not a rush he can go through its just a good set of opponents but they're all scrawny midgets when Goldberg was in WCW he went through Hulk Hogan, Sting, Sid Viscous and many other guys as part of his streak and after it and practically destroyed them and look how over he was then there.

I am saying having Ryback go through these guys soon would be helpful to get some good names into his undefeated streak and he doesn't need to go through the top stars just yet but going through a few legends isn't bad.

How many wins has Ryback got now he's in the 30's now right ?