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| “ | Feed me more! | „ |
| ~ Ryback's catchphrase |
| “ | Ryback rules! | „ |
| ~ Ryback's heel catchphrase |
Ryan Reeves is a professional wrestler currently appearing with WWE. He currently uses the ring name Ryback, but he was previously known as Skip Sheffield of The Nexus.
History
Reeves made his debut as Ryback on the April 6, 2012, episode of SmackDown initially as a face. Over the following weeks, he would squash jobbers, as well as more established wrestlers like Heath Slater and Derrick Bateman. At Extreme Rules, he made his pay-per-view debut as a singles competitor when he defeated two more jobbers (Aaron Relic and Jay Hatton) in under two minutes. At Over the Limit, Ryback defeated Camacho in another squash match.
Then began a feud with the MidCard Mafia. On July 3 during The Great American Bash episode of SmackDown, he defeated Curt Hawkins to continue his winning streak. After defeating Tyler Reks the following week on SmackDown, Ryback defeated both Hawkins and Reks in a handicap match at Money in the Bank and again during Ryback's Raw redebut on the August 6 episode.
On the July 27 SmackDown, Ryback began his first feud since returning to the main roster against Jinder Mahal, after Mahal lost via countout instead of continuing to wrestle. Ryback faced Mahal in a rematch on August 3 SmackDown, but won via disqualification after Mahal struck him with a microphone. On the August 24 SmackDown, Ryback finally defeated Mahal via pinfall and did so again on the September 3 Raw.
After defeating the Intercontinental Champion The Miz in a non-title match on the September 24 Raw, Ryback confronted the WWE Champion CM Punk at the end of the show after Punk attacked Mick Foley.[44] On the next two episodes of Raw, Ryback again confronted Punk after he threatened Jim Ross during an "Appreciation Night" segment honoring Ross, and after he brawled with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. McMahon then declared Punk must choose to defend the WWE Championship against Ryback or John Cena at Hell in a Cell, and if he refused, McMahon would choose for him.
On the October 15 Raw, Cena willingly backed out of challenging Punk in favor of supporting Ryback as Punk's opponent at Hell in a Cell. On October 28 at the pay-per-view, Ryback's thirty-eight match undefeated streak was broken by Punk due to a low blow and fast count by referee Brad Maddox. After the match, Ryback attacked Maddox and hit Punk with the Shell Shocked on top of the cell. The following night on Raw, Ryback was named as the final member of Mick Foley's team to face CM Punk's team at Survivor Series. The next week, Ryback and John Cena were booked in a Triple Threat match for Punk's WWE Championship at the pay-per-view instead. On the November 13 Raw, Ryback gained revenge against Brad Maddox by squashing him in a match before throwing him into an ambulance, thus denying Maddox a chance at joining the WWE roster as a wrestler. On November 18 at Survivor Series, Ryback was unsuccessful in the championship match after he was attacked by Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns, who powerbombed him through the announce table, allowing Punk to pin Cena and retain the title. The following night on Raw, Ryback was again attacked by Rollins, Ambrose, and Reigns, now collectively known as The Shield, before they again powerbombed him through the announce table after Ryback attempted to attack Punk while he was celebrating his year-long reign as WWE Champion. On the November 26 Raw, Ryback demanded another opportunity at the WWE Championship, with Vickie Guerrero finally relenting and giving him the title match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. Later that night, Ryback attacked Punk with a ladder and chair before finally powerbombing him through a table. Punk suffered a legitimate knee injury during to the attack, and the title match was postponed. Ryback was instead paired with the WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) to compete against The Shield in a six-man Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, where The Shield was victorious. The following night on Raw during the 2012 Slammy Awards, Ryback won three Slammy Awards for Newcomer of the Year, Crowd Chant of the Year, and #Trending Now. On the January 7, 2013 Raw, Ryback again failed to capture the WWE Championship from Punk in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, after The Shield interfered and powerbombed Ryback through a table on top of the ring steps.
On January 27 at the Royal Rumble, Ryback entered the Royal Rumble match as the thirtieth and final entrant and eliminated five superstars before being the last man eliminated by John Cena. Ryback would then resume his rivalry with The Shield on the February 4 Raw, when he teamed up with John Cena and Sheamus to attack the stable. This culminated in a six-man tag team match on February 17 at Elimination Chamber, where The Shield emerged victorious when Seth Rollins pinned Ryback for the win. The following night on Raw, Ryback and Sheamus teamed up with Chris Jericho to face The Shield in a rematch, but were again defeated. Ryback then began a feud with Mark Henry after several non-verbal confrontions led to them attacking Drew McIntyre with their finishing moves in an attempt to one-up each other. On the March 15 SmackDown, Ryback defeated Henry via disqualification following interference from The Shield. Afterwards, Henry delivered the World's Strongest Slam to Ryback three times in a row. Ryback and Henry competed in a Bench Press Challenge on the March 29 SmackDown, where Ryback tied Henry at 53 reps after Henry choked him with the weight.[69] On April 7 at WrestleMania 29, Ryback was defeated by Henry in a singles match. The following night on Raw, Ryback saved WWE Champion John Cena from a post-match assault by Mark Henry before attacking Cena himself. The following week on Raw, Ryback explained his attack on Cena as stepping out from his shadow and getting revenge for Cena not having his back against The Shield; Ryback got a measure of revenge later that night, by allowing the Shield to attack Cena. After becoming the number one contender to the WWE Championship, Ryback continued his feud with Cena by attacking him on several occasions while also having confrontations with The Shield. Ryback received his title opportunity in a Last Man Standing match on May 19 at Extreme Rules, however, the match ended in a no-contest after Ryback rammed Cena and himself into the electric backdrop at the top of the ramp. The following night on Raw, Ryback entered the arena in an ambulance and challenged Cena to an ambulance match for the WWE Championship at the first-ever Payback pay-per-view. The following week on Raw, Cena accepted Ryback's challenge, but announced their match would instead be a 3 Stages of Hell match; the first fall a lumberjack match, the second a tables match and the third an ambulance match. At the pay-per-view on June 16, Ryback won the lumberjack match, but went on to lose both the tables and ambulance matches and his shot at the WWE Championship. Ryback then began feuding with Chris Jericho, which led to a singles match on July 14 at Money in the Bank, where Ryback emerged victorious.
In August, Ryback debuted a new gimmick, where he began bullying various backstage workers. Also as part of the gimmick, Ryback would back away from fighting opponents of equal size and taking advantage of smaller and vulnerable opponents. At Extreme Rules of 2013, Ryback attacked CM Punk and costed him the match against Paul Heyman. It was then revealed on the next night of RAW that Ryback is now the newest "Paul Heyman Guy".
He later joined forces with another Heyman guy named Curtis Axel. They began calling themselves "RybAxel" and eventually left Heyman behind. Later they split to pursue singles careers.
