Mason Ryan blames CM Punk’s Pipebomb as the reason why his WWE career faltered.
The former Gladiators star made his WWE debut in 2011. In doing so, he made history, becoming the first Welsh wrestler to be featured in the WWE. He set the stage for talents like Mark Andrews and Tegan Nox to follow in his footsteps in the years to follow.
Mason Ryan debuted in the WWE on January 17, 2011, interfering in a match between CM Punk and John Cena.
At first, he attacked CM Punk, which caused the referee to ring the bell and award Punk the victory. The Welshman then attacked Cena, hitting a version of the Rock Bottom, before falling to his knees and submitting to CM Punk.
Accompanied by Michael McGillicutty (Curtis Axel), Husky Harris (Bray Wyatt) and David Otunga, CM Punk handed a Nexus armband to Mason Ryan, inducting him into his “New Nexus” stable.
This association with Punk was huge, and something Ryan would not have expected when he first signed for the WWE. However, Punk’s famous “Pipebomb” promo prior to Money in the Bank may have launched him into the stratosphere, but it abruptly ended Mason Ryan and the New Nexus’ momentum.
Speaking with Team Venom in an interview, Mason Ryan revealed he never expected to be in the ring with John Cena and CM Punk when he first joined the WWE.
He also spoke about how he only found out about his debut in the WWE on the day it happened.
“I don’t know what I expect, to be honest. Signing with WWE, you sign with the intention of doing big things and ultimately being world champion and all that stuff.” Mason Ryan said, “But obviously, you start at the bottom of the ladder”
“When I first signed, I don’t know if I ever thought I’d be in the ring with CM Punk and John Cena, and I’d be the focus of attention, but when it happened it was very cool, and it was a great big deal, you know? I remember that I didn’t find out till the day of, and obviously when they told me, I was obviously a bit excited, a little bit nervous, but at the same time, I thought it was very cool – a great way to start my career, you know?”
He was then asked about how he felt about the ending of the New Nexus, which came shortly after CM Punk’s “Pipe bomb” promo before Money in the Bank 2011.
He noted how his disappearance from TV was abrupt after Punk’s boom in popularity, and he was left in “a kind of limbo” before Mason Ryan’s release from WWE in 2014.
“You know, obviously joining the new Nexus started off with everything that was great, and you know we were doing some cool things and you know feuding with, you know, with the top stars and everything involved in major angles.”
“It was, you know, it was an exciting time to start off with, and I was like, ‘Okay, this is great,’ and then kind of out of nowhere, kind of, uh, you know it’s almost there with this, you know, this expanding the group, and you know they didn’t really pump in where he was going and what was happening next to him. I think not that we knew, but he knew, and you know we were all kind of in limbo.”
Mason Ryan last wrestled in 2016, and moved into podcasting and working for the Cirque De Sole after retiring from wrestling. Mason Ryan was trained by Orig Williams to become the next big Welsh-speaking star in wrestling, although that sadly did not pan out for the former Gladiator.
