Booker T Explains What Worked Against Ryback In WWE

With his WWE career now seemingly in the rearview mirror, the reputation of former wrestling star Ryback isn't the best, with him becoming more associated with his social media exploits and real life animosity with CM Punk than his in-ring work. As such, it's easy to forget that, at one point, Ryback seemed poised to become one of the biggest stars in WWE, with the former Intercontinental Champion receiving a push in 2012/2013 that saw him briefly go undefeated, and feud with top stars such as Punk and John Cena.

During the latest episode of the "Hall of Fame" podcast, Ryback became a topic of discussion between WWE Hall of Famer Booker T and his co-host, Brad Gilmore. After Gilmore noted that Ryback did seem to be on the cusp of superstardom during his push, Booker attempted to diagnose what exactly when wrong with Ryback. He ultimately concluded that the biggest thing working against him was Ryback being compared to one of Booker's long-time WCW co-workers.

"It definitely looked like it was going to peak out to be something huge," Booker said. "The thing is, I think it had the potential to be. But I think with the fans wanting to do the 'Goldberg' thing, it was always going to be hard to break out of that. I think that was the one thing that Ryback had that was working against him more than anything, [it] was people seeing Goldberg when they saw Ryback. And why? I don't know. I don't know...was it the gear, was it the look...That could be it. But I think that was...I really believe that was Ryback's biggest hurdle."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Hall of Fame" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription