When Did Ryback Join WWE?

Ryback joined WWE in 2012 after a successful career in the independent circuit.

Ryback’s WWE Debut

Ryback made his WWE debut on the May 1, 2012 episode of SmackDown, under the name Ryback. He quickly began a winning streak, defeating local wrestlers in pre-taped promos. On the June 12 episode of SmackDown, WWE Creative Team member Michael Cole announced that Ryback would face WWE United States Champion Santino Marella at Money in the Bank.

Ryback’s first match

On April 7, 2012, after weeks of vignettes aired promoting his debut, Ryback made his official WWE debut on the episode of SmackDown, defeating local wrestlerjobber Chad Bartlett in a squash match. The following week on Raw, Ryback defeated another local jobber in Tim Wylie. On the May 4 episode of SmackDown, after crushing two more jobbers in squashes, Ryback issued an open challenge to any WWE superstar, which was quickly answered by WWE United States Champion Santino Marella. Ryback then defeated Marella to become the new United States Champion.

Ryback’s first promo

Ryback’s first promo aired on the May 29, 2012, episode of SmackDown, where he defeated local wrestler Curt Hawkins. The following week, on the June 5 episode of Raw, Ryback debuted his new “Feed Me More” catchphrase during a backstage segment. Two weeks later, on the June 19 episode of Raw SuperShow, Ryback interfered in a steel cage match between CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, resulting in Bryan being injured. The following week, Ryback was introduced as “The Human Wrecking Ball” by WWE commentator Michael Cole.

Ryback’s WWE Career

Ryback joined WWE in 2010 and made his debut on the third season of NXT. He was then moved to the main roster in 2012 and won his first WWE Championship in 2013. Ryback has had a successful WWE career so far, but there are some fans who feel he should have been used better.

Ryback’s first WWE Championship

Ryback made his WWE main roster debut on November 20, 2012, as part of the fifth season of NXT, which aired on the Syfy network. In his debut match on the main roster, Ryback defeated Jinder Mahal. On the January 7, 2013 episode of Raw, Ryback made his in-ring debut on the main roster in a tag team match with WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane), where they defeated The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O’Neil). The following week on Raw, Ryback defeated Michael McGillicutty in a singles match.

On the March 18 episode of Raw, after defeating Mark Henry by disqualification, Ryback announced that he would face Henry again at WrestleMania 29 for the WWE Championship. At WrestleMania 29, Ryback won the WWE Championship after pinning Henry with a Shell Shocked.

On the June 17 episode of Raw, Ryback was defeated by John Cena in a Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship. The following month at Money in the Bank, Ryback failed to regain the title from Cena after Cena applied an STF-U on him and pinned him while both men were outside the ring.

Ryback’s WWE Release

On August 8, 2016, WWE officially announced that Ryback was released from his contract. His last match took place on the July 4 episode of Raw, teaming with The Miz in a losing effort to Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryder.

Ryback’s Post-WWE Career

After being released by WWE in 2016, Ryback has continued to work as an independent wrestler. He has also made appearances for a number of different wrestling promotions, such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and Ring of Honor. Let’s take a look at Ryback’s post-WWE career.

Ryback’s first post-WWE match

Ryback’s first post-WWE match took place on May 27, 2016, at the Northeast Wrestling show in Fishkill, New York. Ryback defeated one of his former WWE opponents, Curt Hawkins. The following day, Ryback made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG) in Los Angeles, California. In his first match for the promotion, Ryback defeated Michael Elgin.

Ryback’s first post-WWE promo

After being released by WWE on August 8, 2016, Ryback debuted for the world’s largest wrestling promotion not named WWE just two days later.

On August 10, 2016, at All Elite Wrestling’s (AEW) inaugural event, Double or Nothing, Ryback made his post-WWE debut as “The Big Guy” by coming to the defense of Cody Rhodes and attacking Chris Jericho.

The following week on Dynamite, Ryback made his in-ring debut for AEW, defeating Sonny Kiss.