Ryback Talks Friendship With The Extended McMahon Family

Despite his rocky relationship with WWE after his exit from the company, Ryback has revealed that he maintained a relationship with the McMahon family, specifically Vince’s brother Rod.

Speaking on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Ryback detailed his unlikely friendship with the lesser mentioned McMahon:

“He used to buy Feed Me More Nutrition and subscribe to my weekly message of positivity with a discount. I met Rod. People don’t know this. Rod and I used to text here and there, not a lot, but I always used to stay, no matter where TV was, I would always book a room 20 or 30 miles out so that I could go to a gym. The more guys that would go to a gym, the more fans would know that, so I always wanted to focus and get my workout, so I would always go to a gym a little outside of town so I could get my workout on TV days. 

“At this gym, I did my workout. I was getting ready to go do the tanning beds. This guy was out by the front desk and he said, ‘Ryback. I’m Vince’s brother, Rod.’ I’m thinking instantly that this guy is full of s**t and he’s lying to me. I had no idea Vince had a brother. He’s talking to me and I’m thinking, ‘God, who is this guy? What is his story? I’m looking at his face. He had the same nose as Vince. I could tell, so I said, ‘You are Vince’s brother.’ He said, ‘Yea, I told you that.’

“We exchanged numbers. He’s the nicest guy in the world which might shock some people. We stayed in touch. He emailed me after I didn’t hear from him in years after all this happened and I had been away. He started replying to my weekly newsletter messages from Feed Me More Nutrition, and he said he agreed with me on what I was talking about, whatever they were. He loved the supplements. He would buy them all the time. I would send him things, and say, ‘Try this.’ I wish I had the relationship with Vince that I had with Rod because it was so laid back and natural, and nice. He’s such a nice human being.” Speaking of Vince, Mr. McMahon didn’t seem too impressed by Ryback meeting Rod:

“Anyway, true story, when I was with RybAxel with Curtis Axel, I call it the punishment period, in Houston we had a four corner’s tag match that day.  Vince comes up to me. We were walking down the hallway. I said, ‘Hi. Vince, I met your brother Rod today.’ He said, ‘Oh yea.’ I said, ‘Yea. Man, you guys look a lot alike.’ He got red in the face instantly. I’m talking like Brock Lesnar 15 minutes into a match with Kurt Angle beet red. He’s like, ‘We look nothing alike.’ He storms off like a child.

“Later that night, Vince came back up to me, and by the way, the finish got put on me for the tag match. Vince said, ‘I really want you to meet my mom.’  I’m thinking he’s going to have a bunch of talent to go meet his mom. His mom was 90-something at the time. I go into this room. Somebody brings me into this room. It’s me and Vince’s mom and nobody else. I’m thinking ‘What’s going on?’ She said, ‘Nice to meet you.’ The first thing she said was, ‘My son’s going to live for a long time.’ I’m thinking, ‘What the actual f*** is actually going on?’ Did he put her up to this? It was so weird. She was a fantastic lady and a very nice woman. She looked great. She just got done playing tennis, but that was my Rod story that day in Houston because his mom lived there. I don’t know if she still does. I was sad that he (Rod) passed. I talked to him not that long ago and I wasn’t aware that there were even any health issues or anything.  I saw that he passed and I’m like, that got me a little bit.”

H/T: WrestlingNews.co