Ryback Talks About Mocking CM Punk Before His Last WWE Match And More

Former WWE star Ryback recently did an interview with Sports Illustrated where he talked about his WWE departure and more. You can check out the full interview here along with some highlights below.

Mocking CM Punk: “So I decided I would mock Punk to get some heat from the Chicago crowd, and it worked brilliantly. I knew, at the end, Kalisto was going over – and the bigger heel I could be in the match, then the bigger the babyface will be at the end of the match once he goes over on me. After the match, they were furious with me that I was doing anything to get heat. It was so unprofessional on so many levels. I asked, ‘What do you want me to do? I’m a heel, let me go out and make the babyface in the best way I can.’ It’s ironic that Chicago was the last place I wrestled before I left the next night. Punk and I are two entirely different human beings, but I think we shared some of the same viewpoints toward the WWE as far as business.”

Possibly going to NJPW: “As far as going to New Japan for an extended period of time, it’s kind of out of the question right now,” said Ryback. “I’m more than open to going over there and working a match, and I have no problem going anywhere to wrestle and show people that I am the best big guy in the universe. There is nobody in the world like me, and I would more than welcome going anywhere and meeting the fans. I’m looking forward to getting out there and being a part of it.”

The finish to his match at WrestleMania 29: “I will never forget that day. My numbers kept climbing even though I was losing these big time matches. I was under the assumption that I was going over on Mark Henry at WrestleMania and then turning heel the next night on John Cena. When I found days before that I was not going over, but that they wanted me to fall on my face with my finish and look like an idiot, I said there was no way I was doing that. I asked, ‘Why are we doing this?’ I went to Vince and spoke with him for thirty minutes in ‘Gorilla’ [the staging area right behind the curtain] and he lied to me how this was the reason for my heel turn – that I fell on my face and tripped, I just couldn’t cut it, and that’s why I’d turn heel.”