Mason Ryan (real name Barri Griffiths) reflects on being compared to Batista during his WWE career.
Ryan has been absent from the wrestling world in recent years, as he is now working for Cirque du Soleil. However, he was quickly pushed and given a prominent spot when he arrived in WWE, as he was featured as a member of the New Nexus. At the time, he was often compared to Batista.
In an interview with Alistair McGeorge of Metro, Mason Ryan commented on the comparisons.
“I was aware of it,” he said. “You could argue maybe that it hindered my career a little bit. [WWE management] made me grow my hair out, for example, when I first got there, because they were worried I looked too much like him.
“So when I debuted, they were like, ‘Hey, we want you to grow your hair out’”’, just to try and avoid those comparisons. And they didn’t want me doing any kind of move that he did. So they didn’t want me doing any kind of spear or Power Bomb. So it could have been an issue, but it wasn’t like I was thinking too much about it.”
Ryan also noted that stars from every era are often compared to major names that came before them.
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