Every time I sit down to write down some thoughts, in typical fashion, something comes up. Today’s blog is going to be a short one as again, something came up. In short, Raw has been pretty dismal since Wrestlemania. Never has the statement ‘post-Wrestlemania lull’ been more profoundly correct. Instead of writing my thoughts on Raw, I’m going to do a short blog on the main broski, Long Island Iced Z – Zack Ryder.
To use the old cliché, if you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months the name Zack Ryder might mean nothing to you. Zack Ryder was a mainstay on the WWECW brand, managing building up some nice momentum until of course, the brand died a well deserved death. He then came over to Raw where he got lost in the shuffle and sporadically appeared on Superstars. In a recent interview, Ryder explains why he developed his Youtube show Z True Long Island Story:
“What happened was that about three months ago I was sick of just not being on TV, sick of just sitting in the background on the sidelines. So I created my opportunity. I created my own Youtube account. My parents got me a Flipcam for Christmas. And I started to make my own shows. And 16 episodes later, more than a million views, it’s starting to pick up… All my days off is basically doing that show. It’s thinking of things and messing around with my friends. They’ll help me film stuff, like the Superstars General Manager—just things to create controversy in a funny, light hearted way… I think I had no creative output before, so they really didn't know who I was. I had a couple matches here and there, but I never really had a chance to show who I really was, my personality and show how charismatic I was. Now this show has taken off. Guys like John Cena, The Miz, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Chris Jericho are all praising me on Twitter and stuff like that. I wrote the bonus forward to Chris Jericho’s book. It’s just unbelievable. I think everyone is starting to notice."
Zack Ryder’s Youtube show certainly displays his charisma, creativity and above all else…a star quality. More importantly, he has managed to gain droves of new fans to follow his every move. The guy oozes potential. It came as quite a shock then, particularly with Raw emanating from Ryder’s hometown of Long Island, that WWE decided not to use him.
If you follow the show or Zack Ryder’s Twitter account, you’ll know that in the weeks leading up to the Raw show at the Nassau Coliseum he was rallying fans with the #RyderorRiot hashtag on Twitter and even dedicated an entire montage segment to his return to the LI on his Youtube show. Honestly, I was expecting WWE to finally take advantage of the hype and momentum that Ryder has on his side. I was expecting maybe a face turn (finally) or a rub with the main event. After all, Z True Long Island story has more hits than the Youtube versions of Superstars and Smackdown combined. At the end of Raw I found myself asking the question (as many others did) where was Zack Ryder then? Throughout the show we heard LOUD ‘We Want Ryder!’ chants, particularly in the Sheamus vs Santino match. I’m pretty sure I heard one nearly get going during the main event as well.
Take yourself on a journey back to King of the Ring 1996 (if you didn’t watch it, you’ve DEFINITELY seen footage.) After Stone Cold Steve Austin won the King of the Ring tournament he got on the mic and uttered the famous ‘You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!" promo. Austin 3:16 signs began appearing all over the very next night and WWE took advantage of that… of course we all know how that turned out. Austin 3:16 t-shirts became not only the best selling piece of merchandise in WWE history but, synonymous with an entire era of Professional Wrestling. Following the creation of Z True Long Island Story, we have seen Zack Ryder signs plastered across arenas and his t-shirt (even as dreadful as it is) keeps selling out on WWE shops across the globe… Why won’t WWE take advantage of this? Sure we’ve seen him make brief backstage appearances and one job match against Kofi Kingston but that isn’t what he deserves. After gaining a following (including a significant backstage following) like he has, WWE NEEDS to push him. I’m not saying that Zack Ryder will become as big a draw as Stone Cold but in the industry of pro-wresting, you never know. Maybe its because his character is a little goofy and they feel he couldn’t really be taken seriously as a threat. That can be fixed. Lets face it, The Rock’s character was pretty goofy but when the time came to Layeth the Smackdown, he brought much needed intensity. The same can be said of John Cena in recent years, the cartoonish promo’s and one liners, however again, when push comes to shove Cena can bring the aggression and ruthlessness needed to stay legit. I think Ryder could tweak his character in such a way to make sure that while he’s funny as hell, he can be a serious force to be reckoned with.
WWE well and truly missed the boat by not having Ryder on Raw. Reports say he was on Superstars against Primo (aren’t they supposed to be a tag team) and that he got as loud a pop as Cena and Austin. It was a total kick in the balls to Ryder and all his supporters both backstage and in the WWE universe by not having him on Raw. WWE NEEDS to see the potential in Ryder and utilise it. Hype doesn’t last forever and the creative team and Vince McMahon need to take a chance on Ryder because it could very well be good for business…
Don’t even get me started on why Scott Stanford should be announcing…
Thanks for reading
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I’ll be back with those expanded 30 Day Wrestling Challenge answers I promised as well as thoughts on all the shows sometimes this and/or next week.
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