Ryback's WWE departure was a little more contentious than most realized.
Since leaving WWE in 2016, Ryback has been completely absent from the national wrestling scene. No AEW, ROH, Impact, MLW or New Japan Pro Wrestling appearances. He's also not made a return to the WWE ring, and based on what he told Chris Van Vliet of WSVN-TV in a recent interview, that's no surprise.
"I told them f**k you, take me off TV and I left," Ryback said. "I walked out of St. Louis and I went home. They tried to stop my pay and they weren't going to pay me while I rode out my contract so I went on injury pay and got my ear and nose fixed and they paid me all the way up until my contract expired on August 8th I believe. If you remember, I released them and wished them the best in their future endeavors in an online video because they were trying to fire me. They wanted me to get cleared and I didn't get cleared until the day my contract ran up so that they could not publicly say they fired me because that is what they will usually try to do to a talent to make them look bad in the situation. But you guys didn't get me."
Ryback would subseqently receive cease and desist letters from WWE's legal department, insisting that he stop using the name "Ryback." You might be shocked to learn after reading the quote, that the letter didn't do anything to prevent him from using the name, outside of going by "The Big Guy" briefly.
You can see Ryback's full interview with Chris Van Vliet above.