As noted, former WWE Superstar Ryback (Ryan Reeves) revealed during a recent Las Vegas-based radio interview that he is considering moving over to the MMA world if he can secure a deal that would satisfy him on a financial level, noting that he has already gone as far as to reach out to Bellator MMA about potential interest in his services. Soon after his interview, Bellator MMA President Scott Coker confirmed the rumors to MMA reporter Dave Meltzer, and now he’s back with more.
On the latest edition of former WCW (World Championship Wrestling) Executive Vice President and former WWE on-air performer Eric Bischoff’s official podcast, Coker was interviewed and elaborated on his recent meeting with the former WWE star who has been using his nickname “The Big Guy” while making appearances at smaller pro wrestling shows since parting ways with WWE.
As the current Bellator MMA promoter pointed out during his appearance on the podcast, the talks with Ryback haven’t gone that far and aren’t exactly promising due to the lack of experience on any kind of competitive level that the pro wrestler has in any form of combat sports.
“I can comment on it and really it’s a very short conversation because their management did reach out. We had a very brief conversation. I’m not sure where it’s at but I don’t think it went very far. If they don’t have some type of background in either jiu-jitsu or collegiate wrestling or tai boxing or a combat sports background… it’s tough for them. It’s like someone from a martial arts background trying to be a pro wrestler. If you’re not schooled and don’t go through the education process of how to do it then you’re going to have a hard time. I think that’s what you saw with the CM Punk situation.”
As he continued, Coker spoke further about the comparison he drew between Ryback and CM Punk, who coincidentally enough have somewhat of a storied history of legitimate beef with each other dating back to issues they had working together while they were both in WWE. As Coker spoke further on the topic of Ryback and Punk, he also addressed the recent comments made by UFC President Dana White regarding his opinion that if Punk does indeed continue to fight in MMA after his devastating one-sided loss to rookie MMA prospect Mickey Gall as he claimed he would during multiple post-fight interviews after his quick submission defeat at last month’s UFC 203 pay-per-view, he shouldn’t expect to do so on a level as big as the UFC this early into his foray into the sport.
“I think he’s in a tough situation. He fought on a pretty big card and fought a pretty tough kid. It’s back to the drawing board in my opinion. He’s going to have to go back and really think about whether he wants to continue fighting. If he does he’s got to stay at Duke’s gym and keep training. Maybe another year from now or eighteen months from now he can try it again. To think it’s going to be any other outcome fighting a guy of that caliber in any league I think is irresponsible.”
To listen to the complete Scott Coker interview from Eric Bischoff’s podcast from Wednesday afternoon, use the media player below or download the episode by going to AudioBoom.com.
H/T to Raj Giri of WrestlingINC.com for transcribing the above Scott Coker quotes from his appearance on the “Bischoff On Wrestling” podcast.
As noted, former WWE Superstar Ryback (Ryan Reeves) revealed during a recent Las Vegas-based radio interview that he is considering moving over to the MMA world if he can secure a deal that would satisfy him on a financial level, noting that he has already gone as far as to reach out to Bellator MMA about potential interest in his services. Soon after his interview, Bellator MMA President Scott Coker confirmed the rumors to MMA reporter Dave Meltzer, and now he’s back with more.
On the latest edition of former WCW (World Championship Wrestling) Executive Vice President and former WWE on-air performer Eric Bischoff’s official podcast, Coker was interviewed and elaborated on his recent meeting with the former WWE star who has been using his nickname “The Big Guy” while making appearances at smaller pro wrestling shows since parting ways with WWE.
As the current Bellator MMA promoter pointed out during his appearance on the podcast, the talks with Ryback haven’t gone that far and aren’t exactly promising due to the lack of experience on any kind of competitive level that the pro wrestler has in any form of combat sports.
“I can comment on it and really it’s a very short conversation because their management did reach out. We had a very brief conversation. I’m not sure where it’s at but I don’t think it went very far. If they don’t have some type of background in either jiu-jitsu or collegiate wrestling or tai boxing or a combat sports background… it’s tough for them. It’s like someone from a martial arts background trying to be a pro wrestler. If you’re not schooled and don’t go through the education process of how to do it then you’re going to have a hard time. I think that’s what you saw with the CM Punk situation.”
As he continued, Coker spoke further about the comparison he drew between Ryback and CM Punk, who coincidentally enough have somewhat of a storied history of legitimate beef with each other dating back to issues they had working together while they were both in WWE. As Coker spoke further on the topic of Ryback and Punk, he also addressed the recent comments made by UFC President Dana White regarding his opinion that if Punk does indeed continue to fight in MMA after his devastating one-sided loss to rookie MMA prospect Mickey Gall as he claimed he would during multiple post-fight interviews after his quick submission defeat at last month’s UFC 203 pay-per-view, he shouldn’t expect to do so on a level as big as the UFC this early into his foray into the sport.
“I think he’s in a tough situation. He fought on a pretty big card and fought a pretty tough kid. It’s back to the drawing board in my opinion. He’s going to have to go back and really think about whether he wants to continue fighting. If he does he’s got to stay at Duke’s gym and keep training. Maybe another year from now or eighteen months from now he can try it again. To think it’s going to be any other outcome fighting a guy of that caliber in any league I think is irresponsible.”
To listen to the complete Scott Coker interview from Eric Bischoff’s podcast from Wednesday afternoon, use the media player below or download the episode by going to AudioBoom.com.
H/T to Raj Giri of WrestlingINC.com for transcribing the above Scott Coker quotes from his appearance on the “Bischoff On Wrestling” podcast.
As noted earlier this week, former WWE Superstar Ryback has expressed interest in transitioning into the MMA world, as he claimed he has been in talks with the Bellator MMA promotion in recent weeks.
Ryback, who has been using the name “The Big Guy”…
As noted earlier this week, former WWE Superstar Ryback has expressed interest in transitioning into the MMA world, as he claimed he has been in talks with the Bellator MMA promotion in recent weeks.
Ryback, who has been using the name “The Big Guy” (his WWE nickname) since parting ways with the company earlier this year, spoke about his interest in pursuing an MMA career during a Las Vegas radio interview on Monday.
Following the initial report, MMAFighting.com reporter and Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer recently provided an update, as he noted that Bellator MMA President Scott Coker confirmed to him that he has been in talks with Ryback in recent weeks. It’s worth noting, however, that Coker pointed out that “nothing is even close to being signed” at this point.
As far as the motivation for the 35-year-old pro wrestler to want to fight professionally all of a sudden, he made it clear that the decision will come down to dollars and cents, and isn’t a passion-project like CM Punk — coincidentally enough someone he has had documented issues with in the past — recently scratched off his bucket list.
Former WWE Superstar Ryback is reportedly considering making the move to the world of MMA.
Ryback, who recently parted ways with WWE, noted during a radio appearance on X1075 out of Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday that he is open to doing MMA and has be…
Former WWE Superstar Ryback is reportedly considering making the move to the world of MMA.
Ryback, who recently parted ways with WWE, noted during a radio appearance on X1075 out of Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday that he is open to doing MMA and has been in talks with the Bellator MMA promotion.
Ryback, who has been using the name “The Big Guy” since parting ways with WWE, has trained in jiu-jitsu in the past.
BREAKING: @Ryback22 in talks with @BellatorMMA, "open to the idea". Full interview heard on @X1075 Las Vegas.
Ryback took to social media on Wednesday, giving a receipt to the man who has publicly ripped into him for his “unsafe” style of work in the past.
Ryback posted a tweet in response to the news that CM Punk’s…
Some people forgive, but never forget.
Ryback took to social media on Wednesday, giving a receipt to the man who has publicly ripped into him for his “unsafe” style of work in the past.
Ryback posted a tweet in response to the news that CM Punk’s UFC debut will be delayed once again due to back surgery, kicking “The Best in the World” while he’s down.
The WWE Superstar took a line that Punk used during his infamous rant on the “Art of Wrestling” podcast about being injured by Ryback in WWE in the past.
“Either you’re doing it on purpose and you suck, or you’re dumb as f*ck. Which is it?,” Punk claimed to have asked Ryback when describing the incident during his widely circulated shoot interview on Colt Cabana’s podcast. It was then that Punk said that Ryback replied in a dejected manner, “I’m dumb as f*ck.”
“The Big Guy” was likely anything but dejected when re-delivering the line to Punk in a Twitter response on Wednesday.
“CM Punk, my bad. It was an accident,” Ryback wrote on Twitter. “I’m dumb as f*ck.”
As seen below, Ryback ended his tweet with a sarcastic “kissy-face” emoticon.
