One of the people that were insulted the most by CM Punk when he appeared on Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast was Ryback, and "The Big Guy" offered his response recently while Booker T also shared his thoughts on Punk's appearance.
Punk called Ryback a "steroid guy" and said he took 20 years off of his career when he worked with him while also intimating that Ryback injured him on purpose.
Ryback appeared on The Franchise 107.7 in Oklahoma and spoke about Punk's comments, saying they were untrue.
"A little harmless fire back never hurts. ... I don't want to harp on this but I will say the comments he made were not accurate about me, definitely," Ryback told the station, according to Cageside Seats.
"It's a little disappointing to hear that. He was never like that to my face. To hear the things that he said, especially behind my back to Vince [McMahon], it's very disturbing to me. Things did not go ideal for me after that time period that we had wrestled and I stuck around, I hung out, I showed up day in and day out, I did my job, and turned things around."
He added: "He goes on record saying I broke his ribs on purpose and this and that. That's not true. And if it was, if he says that that happened, he never did anything about it, if he's this big bad tough guy. But it never happened. You've got a roster full of WWE talent that knows the real Ryback. Everyone knows the truth and what he said is not the truth."
Ryback also talked about Punk walking out on the company and about putting him over before his departure.
"I wish him the best and I'd like to think he would be thankful for everything that he has in WWE," Ryback said. "I was the one that, for lack of a better word, put him over time and time again. And then he walked out and left. He was beaten up, he had his issues. I don't think anyone is going to question walking away beaten up. But I think people say 'what does he have to lose by saying what he does?'
"I think he's making excuses and trying to... he wants people to feel sorry for him for leaving. He walked away and left and just man up, he needed time off. We all get beat up, we all work hurt. I was hurt for seven months before I needed to get surgery. And I say at the end of the day, be thankful for everything that you have from WWE. With any job there's good and bad. Focus on the good. Don't be bitter because who knows what's going to happen down the line."
He continued: "But I wish him the best. I don't want to sit there and get into a war of words, it's not going to do good for anybody. Hopefully we'll see him down the line."
"The Big Guy" also said that the WWE wouldn't keep him around if he was as rough as Punk claims he was.
"If I was as big, bad, and rough for what he's saying in the ring and I beat him up so badly that it took 20 years off his career do you think that WWE would have me in the ring with guys like John Cena and Dolph Ziggler and other top WWE talents?" he said.
"No. I wouldn't be here. I would be gone. We have a roster full of guys that know the truth. He said what he said. I respect his opinion to say what he wants to say, but it's not true. I know some people are going to believe him, some people aren't. In a few weeks it's going to be irrelevant and I'm going to be with the WWE moving forward."
WWE Hall of Famer Booker T also shared his thoughts on Punk's appearance with The Miami Herald, saying that perhaps Punk should have kept the business between himself and the WWE.
"With me personally, certain business should be between yourself and the person you're doing business with," Booker T told the publication. "You never know where you'll have to go in the future. I've never been about burning bridges. I don't know if he burned a bridge or not. I don't know. It's a personal thing more than anything for him to walk away. He had to have a certain feeling about something. It could be a lot of things, but it's personal. For me, I can just say I've always looked at the business as a job. It's never been nothing more than me getting a script and me going out there and performing. Of course, I've always wanted to make a decent pay like everybody else. You have to realize where I come from and a guy like CM Punk comes from. That may be the difference. Hopefully, Punk finds his way back to WWE. Me, personally, I was one of the guys who noticed his talent when I first saw him. I brought him to a wrestling show down here in Houston when he was a kid and before he was this 'Straightedge Superstar' and all that stuff. I saw talent in him. Then when he did the whole pipe bomb thing, I saw even more talent in him."
He added: "I felt he was really going to break out and last a long time in this business. I wouldn't say a lifer, but a guy who was going to have a long career and give back. To see it abruptly end like that, there are so many fans out there that love CM Punk and want to see him in the middle of that ring. It's the sad part."
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