Ryan Reeves (born November 10, 1981) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, working on its SmackDown brand under the ring name Ryback. After being one of the eight finalists on WWE Tough Enough 4, he later signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and wrestled in Deep South Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling. and Ohio Valley Wrestling from 2005 to 2007. During that time, he formed a tag team with Jon Bolen called High Dosage. He also participated in the first season of NXT in early 2010 under the name of Skip Sheffield.

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Reeves started watching wrestling at the age of five and was allowed to ring the bell at a live WWF event. Wanting to become a professional wrestler, Reeves began weight lifting at 12 years old. He was nicknamed "Silverback" as a teenager, after a childhood friend joked that he resembled a silverback gorilla, and later adopted it as a part of his ring name. Reeves excelled at baseball and football while attending Western High School and Palo Verde High School. He also played college baseball during his freshman year at the Community College of Southern Nevada, however he broke his foot and ended up missing two seasons.