Mason Ryan wasn’t ready for his main roster run in the WWE.
Ryan (Barri Griffiths), pegged by Orig Williams as the next big Welsh-speaking star, made his debut with the WWE in 2011. This was two years after he joined the company, following a stint as Goliath on Gladiators.
However, an injury at the peak of his run with The New Nexus put a stop to his main event run. He never recovered from the break. Mason Ryan was released by the company in 2014, wrestling on the independent scene and even making an appearance in the Inoki Genome Federation. He has worked in Las Vegas in the Cirque Du Soleil since 2016.
Mason Ryan recently spoke with Metro, reflecting on his run in the WWE. The former WWE star admitted that he was “very new” and not really ready for his spot on the main roster. He added that he was thrown in “maybe too soon” because of his impressive look.
“I guess you’re never really ready for it. I was very new,” Mason Ryan said. “But I really fit the mold of what they were looking for – tall and pretty jacked, just had a certain look to me. So I was thrown in pretty soon – maybe too soon, I don’t know.”
He also spoke about his injury and about how the timing of it changed his whole career. Additionally, he used Roman Reigns as an example. Mason Ryan explained how one injury could have stopped him from becoming the top star in wrestling today.
“These little things can really affect your career,” he said. “If Roman Reigns had an injury, or something happened at the wrong time, he could have just been nothing.”
