Ryback Talks Vince McMahon's Net Worth Increasing During Pandemic, Maria Kanellis' Tweets
Ryback recently commented on Maria Kanellis' tweet on getting released two months after giving birth on an episode of the "Shooting Blanks Wrestling Report" with Wrestling Inc.'s Raj Giri on the Conversation with the Big Guy Ryback podcast. Ryback sympathized with Kanellis saying that the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic have probably heightened frustrations even more.
"I understand the frustration. Things build up when you're sitting at home," Ryback noted. "It's not like they're able to go and wrestle in other places. There's probably a lot of sitting at home probably looking online, dealing with a lot of negative bulls–t from fans and you read some negative comments from people. It's really easy to get fired up because you're the one that's living through it.
"Obviously, we all deal with the negative portion of fans. Everyone has them. It's an unfortunate situation. I understand her frustrations. Putting stuff online, it's her right. If that helps deal with it better, then that's fine. It sucks. Nothing really comes of it either way. It's probably a way more to vent frustrations I would imagine. Hopefully when things start getting back to normal, they have an opportunity to get busy again and start working or doing whatever makes them happy."
Ryback also commented on the news of Vince McMahon's net worth increasing by 10 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ryback also reiterated Kanellis' point of the fact that no other wrestling company has released talent.
"I would say that the people they released, from a company standpoint, was probably $3-5 million total just estimating with everyone's contracts," Ryback theorized. "It really makes you question why did they get rid of so many people, or why have they not brought them back? No other wrestling company released people during this period.
"For those of us in the business, everyone knows how it is. It's Vince, and Vince has built that. It's his way he operates the company. He does a lot of good. He provides jobs for people."
While noting the good that WWE does, Ryback said that WWE exploits wrestlers. He notes that many wrestlers sacrifice their lives for WWE and some are not able to earn a living after leaving WWE because of the lack of opportunities while working in WWE.
"If you compare it to how they operate that business, what they take from people and what people sacrifice for him to have the wealth that he has, it's typically people's lives," Ryback stated. "Wrestlers die younger than everyone because of the work schedule and how little he leaves them with how much they actually earn. A lot of them have trouble when they leave there.
"There are opportunities they don't get while they're there because they want to keep them there. They don't want them making too much money. That's where it gets really frustrating."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Conversation with the Big Guy Ryback with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.