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Originally Posted by #1-wwf-fan
Turning him heel when he was hot like that would have been absolutely insane. Hell, turning him heel even AFTER they had been jobbing him out and killing his momentum was a bad idea.
I'm actually not completely with Jericho on the fact that Ryback should have won at Hell in a Cell either since he would have just been a transitional champion so they could set up Rock-Cena. And I thought the way they got out of the match with Punk as champ and Ryback still looking like a beast was perfect. Jericho at least obviously realized what a good thing they had though. It's how he was booked AFTER Hell in a Cell that makes my palm meet my face.
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I disagree with the heel turn thing. The difference between you and I there are our views on Ryback, I think. I never saw him as a "golden child" and a guy that could carry the company, so to me it's different than, say, that asinine move TNA made when they turned Monty Brown heel instead of putting the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on him. Ryback turning heel, in my opinion, would have pissed the fans off and made them LOATHE Ryback. The care factor would have remained. But it would have given Punk some muscle and allowed for Ryback to develop an actual persona. The end game would be a white-hot face turn, ala when Batista turned on Evolution. Imagine if Ryback had his fill of Paul Heyman and CM Punk, and turned on Punk and laid him out with the Meat Hook? Heyman would have then called in Brock Lesnar to stop his rogue monster, but Ryback could have gone over Brock and
then challenged Punk for the WWE Title.
I don't think Ryback's booking was really bad until WrestleMania. Yeah, he lost to The Shield, but that was forced because the WWE needed them to seem like a big threat. Their whole original purpose was to explain, with credibility, how Ryback isn't the WWE Champion. I have no clue why they didn't put Ryback over Mark Henry at WrestleMania though. That seemed silly to me. In fact, I don't see why they didn't go with Ryback vs. Big Show at Mania. After Big Show defeated Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Title, I think the simplest booking would have been for Big Show and Ryback to have some tension in a backstage altercation. Maybe Ryback could have been interviewed and would be saying that he could Shell-Shock anybody in WWE. Big Show then walks past and says "Anybody, huh?" Show could dismiss Ryback as "little man" and Ryback just fumes. After retaining the World Heavyweight Title against Sheamus at the Royal Rumble or something, Ryback hits the ring and takes out Big Show with a Meat Hook. Big Show starts stirring, so Ryback hits him with a second Meat Hook. Dolph Ziggler's music then plays and out comes The Show Off to cash-in his Money in the Bank title shot. Ziggler is the new World Heavyweight Champion; Big Show has a reason to be pissed off at Ryback, who goes on a tear during the Royal Rumble, but is then attacked by Big Show and tossed out of the Rumble Match, giving him a reason to be pissed off at Show.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho for the World Title and Big Show vs. Ryback would have been so easy to set-up. Fandango, as much as I love him, could have debuted in another fashion. Perhaps he could have attacked Chris Jericho after his match or even cost him the win? Or maybe he could have beaten Zack Ryder in a quick bout, since WrestleMania was in Ryder Town and they would have given him a nice pop. Alberto Del Rio could have won the United States Championship from Antonio Cesaro sometime after the Rumble and Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter could have targeting him and talked about redeeming the title.