We recently had the opportunity to talk to Ryback Reeves about his WWE career (you can read the whole interview by clicking here) and, as I'm sure you'll understand, I couldn't resist asking if he has any weird stories about working with Vince McMahon behind the scenes. We've heard plenty of those over the years and Ryback understandably has one of own and, honestly, it's downright unbelievable!
"I will say that the one funny story was when I was at a Gold's Gym in Houston, Texas, and Vince McMahon's mom, I believe, lives there. There was this guy at the gym and he comes up to me and he tells me that he's Vince McMahon's brother and I don't believe him at first. The guy says his name is Rod McMahon and he's telling me some wrestling stories. So, initially, he comes off as kind of a crazy wrestling fan telling stories at the gym because it was very random and it was outside of the tanning beds waiting to go tan and it was very odd timing and everything. He was extremely nice and then I'm looking at him as he's talking and I see the resemblance to Vince in his face, particularly in the nose region, and Vince has a very distinguishable nose when you talk to him, and I'm looking at him and go, 'Oh man, I think this guy's telling the truth.' And so I have this great discussion with the guy.
"Super nice, Rod McMahon, and I go back to TV in Houston and this is during the Rybaxel period. I call this the punishment period, and I see Vince and we start having a discussion in the hallway and I go, 'I met your brother Rod McMahon today' and he goes 'Did you? Oh, yeah!' and I go 'I can see the resemblance' and no joke, he got red in the face and was furious with me that I said that I could see the resemblance. 'I look nothing like Rod!' That's the discussion and I go 'Jesus Christ, how did this go bad?' And then, later on, Vince comes and gets me and goes, 'I would like you to meet my mother.'
"Mind you, I don't know who else he did this with and if he did it at any other points. It was just me, though, and he takes me and brings me into a room with his mother, shuts the door and it's just me and his mother and I don't know if there were other people in there but there were no other wrestlers and I was in there for way longer than I expected because, you know, you meet somebody 'Hello, how are you doing?' and you kind of just have a little casual talk. Well, she looks at me and goes, 'Oh, my son's going live for a very long time' and smiles at me. It was one of those really funny, odd moments that you don't really understand what's going on at the time but it's pretty funny looking back at it and then Vince eventually came in and they all talked and then I was allowed to leave. That's my one unique Vince story."
You've got to feel for Ryback. What he must have thought was a great interaction with his boss quickly backfired and turned into an insane sounding interaction with Vince's mother (who sounds like quite the character). I'm sure other Superstars have also talked about meeting her over the years so perhaps this is a weird rite of passage that the WWE Chairman enjoys putting his employees through.
What do you guys think of this weird backstage story? Share your thoughts in the usual place.