WWE News: Former Champion Says Vince McMahon Lied To Him, Convinced Him To Drop Major Lawsuit Against WWE

One of the biggest stories of 2016 was Ryback walking out on WWE and then having to wait months for his departure from the company to become a reality. When the split finally happened, it certainly didn’t take place on good terms, and it would be surprising to ever see him back with the promotion. Now, Ryback is spilling stories about his time there, and the former Intercontinental Champion says Vince McMahon lied to him and forced him to drop a major lawsuit against WWE.

In the spring of 2016, Ryback started becoming overly frustrated with his place in the organization, and he wasn’t hiding it. At a Monday Night Raw in early May, Ryback was sent home due to a contract dispute and never appeared for the company again before parting ways with WWE in early August.

On a recent episode of “Conversation With The Big Guy,” as transcribed by Wrestling Inc., Ryback brought up some past experiences that weren’t overly favorable to WWE. Ryback was speaking of when he was about to have his third ankle surgery and Vince McMahon specifically told him back in 2011 that they would never give up on him.

“This was another moment I’ll never forget of him lying to me was at Extreme Rules, the one where Kharma debuted at in Tampa, Florida [May 1, 2011], back however many years ago. He sees me, this was before my third surgery, he comes up to me and we had a nice little lengthy discussion and he goes, ‘I’ll never give up on you.’ He goes, ‘we’re going to get through this together.’ He goes, ‘I don’t have anybody like you. You’re going to make me a lot of money.’ He goes, ‘you know how to get over,’ and he goes, ‘that’s something that not everybody knows.’ And he goes, ‘I’m going to allow you to make me a lot of money and I’m never going to give up on you,’ were his exact words. And then, they gave up on me.”

From there, some situations had come about in WWE with an allegedly negligent surgeon. There had been some cases that former talents in WWE were starting to bring against the promotion, and it seemed as if Ryback had one of his own that may have been bad news if the promotion hadn’t forced him to drop it.

Ryback says he “wasn’t handled appropriately” by WWE when they wanted to release him before he was cleared of his injury. He said that with the right attorneys, he would have made out “really, really well” if he had chosen to give up on wrestling due to injury and sue WWE.

He was planning on bringing the medical malpractice lawsuit against WWE over the bad ankle operation, but the company put a quick stop to that. Ryback said that WWE told him his push wouldn’t continue if he proceeded to move forward with his lawsuit.

Ryback states that Jane Geddes, the former WWE Vice President of Talent Operations, finally called him and said that their conversation was simple and to the point.

“…she tells me, ‘Ryan, this phone call is off the record’ and I go, ‘okay’ and she goes, ‘do you want your standing in this company to remain good? Do you want your push to continue?’ was essentially what she told me. And I said, ‘yes, of course, why wouldn’t it?’ She goes, ‘we need you to drop the lawsuit against Dr. Herscovici immediately.’ And so, this was a multimillion dollar lawsuit, not against the WWE.”

From that point, his push continued. The thing is, Ryback said that once the statute of limitations started to come about and Ryback considered filing the lawsuit against WWE again, he said the company would do things just to mess with him and hold his push/career over his head.

It is no surprise that he had a “messy departure” from WWE as reported by Sports Illustrated back in September, but there were issues between the two for years. There is no love between the two sides and likely will never be a relationship again either.

Ryback is working the indies now and has actually traveled the world to work for some other promotions. It isn’t likely that he will ever make another appearance for WWE and after saying that Vince McMahon lied to him, that kind of cements that in place. It is no surprise that Ryback dealt with numerous injuries during his time with the company, but the news about forcing him to drop a malpractice lawsuit won’t make any friends either.

[Featured Image by WWE]