

He excelled at baseball and football while attending Western High School and Palo Verde High School. Wanting to become a professional wrestler, Reeves began lifting weights at 12 years old and was nicknamed "Silverback" as a teenager after a friend joked that he resembled a gorilla, later adopting part of it as his name. He started watching professional wrestling at the age of eight, and was a guest bell ringer at a live World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) event at the age of 13. Ryback Allen Reeves was born Ryan Allen Reeves in Las Vegas on November 10, 1981. He returned under the Ryback name in 2012, going on to headline multiple PPV events (usually as a contender for the WWE Championship) and becoming a one-time Intercontinental Champion before being released in 2016. In 2010, as Sheffield, he participated in the first season of NXT, joined WWE's main roster as a member of The Nexus, and headlined SummerSlam before being sidelined by an injury. One of the eight finalists on WWE's Tough Enough 4, Reeves later signed a developmental contract with WWE and wrestled under the ring names Ryback and Skip Sheffield in its developmental territories Deep South Wrestling (DSW), Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), and Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed from 2004 to 2016. Ryback Allen Reeves (born Ryan Allen Reeves November 10, 1981) is an American professional wrestler.
