The Undertaker’s Streak was one of the greatest win streaks in sports, and everyone had their own idea of who should be the one to finally defeat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Chris Jericho is one of those men, and revealed that he thought former WWE star Ryback could have been the man to end The Streak.
Jericho talked on an edition of Chris Jericho’s Saturday Special about how he was due to work with Ryback at Wrestlemania 29, before plans changed and we got Jericho vs Fandango and Ryback vs Mark Henry. Ryback was one of the top babyfaces at the time and was getting incredible pops from the crowd, and was drawing comparisons from WCW star Goldberg.
However, losses to the likes of CM Punk and The Shield cooled Ryback off immensely. His gimmick was about being a powerhouse who defeated all that challenged him, so the losses really killed his mystique. This led to an eventual heel turn which simply didn’t work and lowered Ryback’s stock immensely.
In the interview, Chris Jericho had huge praise for The Big Guy. He even claimed that, at one point in time, Ryback was over with the crowd he could take on The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. To make an ever bigger statement, he claimed that Ryback could have been the man to end the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania.
There were rumours at the time of a Undertaker vs Ryback match at Wrestlemania 29. However, reactions online were negative and could have been a reason why Vince nixed the idea.
Chris Jericho on working with Ryback
“I think Ryback is great. I think he was a huge star that was kind of buried by politics for whatever reason. And there was — actually, when I came back to WWE, the year I worked with Fandango, I was originally supposed to work with Ryback. “
“That’s what we had kind of worked out at the time. And for whatever reason, Ryback didn’t happen. Vince changed his mind as he is wont to do, like I said. And they changed it to Fandango.”
Chris Jericho on Ryback vs Undertaker
“There was a time when Ryback was so popular, that I suggested he should be the guy that beats the Undertaker. He’s the one. And it didn’t go that way, and sometimes there’s complaints about his work.”
“I loved working with Ryback. I did a bunch of house shows with him in Calgary, and we had great matches. So really, really a big fan of Ryback. Especially at the time, probably 2014, ’15 when he was kind of at his peak.”
Chris Jericho would end up with working with Ryback later that year. From June to July they feuded against each on Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown. They wrestled multiple times of PPV and TV, trading victories as the heel Ryback took on the face Chris Jericho.
