WWE Opinion: Does WWE Resent Zack Ryder to the Point They Won't Push Him?

The story of how Zack Ryder went from a going-nowhere jobber, stuck in dark matches and C-shows like Superstars to one of the most popular and beloved wrestlers on the entire WWE roster, is well-known by now and doesn't bear repeating.

Needless to say though, it is a testament to Ryder’s skills as a film maker—as Ryder has noted several times himself, a lot more time and effort goes into Z! True Long Island Story than most people realize—as well as his entrepreneurial astuteness (he caught on to the benefits of Twitter, Facebook and social media in general long before most folks in wrestling did) that he has managed to flourish in WWE as much as he has.

But despite Ryder’s high profile in WWE and impressive merchandise, his current position isn’t too far removed from where he was this time last year: a comedy jobber whom no one takes remotely seriously. The only real difference being that this time around, more people know who he is.

How did this happen, you may ask? After all, it was only a few months ago he was main-eventing Raw and was the United States Champion.

The answer: some of the worst and most counter-productive booking in recent times.

First of all, he was presented on-screen as Cena’s geeky sidekick. Then, due to his friendship with WWE’s biggest star, he became the target of dastardly heel Kane—who was trying to get Cena to “embrace the hate” through attacking his loved ones or something like that—and the victim of weekly one-sided beatings that saw him get thrown around like a rag doll.

This all led to him losing his beloved US title to Jack Swagger.

Oh, and while all this was going on he became infatuated with diva Eve Torres and attempted to date her.

The conniving Eve strung him along for a while, before finally and emphatically turning heel on Zack at this week’s WrestleMania event during the GM match (Eve’s interference led to Ryder getting pinned by the Miz and losing the match for Team Teddy).

Not only that, but Torres had declared several times on WWE TV that she was just using Ryder—and John Cena—for fame and publicity. So Ryder really had no excuse when she turned on him, since it was blatantly obvious to everyone she could not be trusted.

Heck, heel commentator Michael Cole brought this up during Raw this week, labeling Ryder stupid and naïve, and even babyface announcer Jerry Lawler was struggling to defend the Long Island native.  

So what exactly happened here?

Does WWE, as many have suggested, secretly hate that Ryder got himself over hugely with the masses without their permission? Or is this just incompetent booking, and somehow, Vince McMahon and company think they’re helping him with these recent dumbfounding storylines?

It’s a difficult question to answer.

First of all, to suggest WWE are simply out to get Ryder because he got over on his own may not be wholly fair.

After all, if the promotion were truly angry with him, why didn’t they just fire him as soon as his YouTube show started getting off the ground? Or just continue to book him on Superstars?

Why put him in Raw main events where he teamed with stars like John Cena and CM Punk? Why show footage of The Rock putting him over with the crowd at MSG after the Survivor Series main event? Why give him a very credible US Championship win over Dolph Ziggler at the TLC PPV?

It doesn’t make any sense, does it?

While WWE’s treatment of Ryder lately has been awful, to say they ignored his momentum in the summer and autumn of 2011 is simply not true. They did try with him; maybe not as well as they could have, but they did.

Another thing to consider is the flaws of Ryder himself.

Sure, the affable and witty Ryder is heavily popular with a certain part of the fan base and usually gets a decent reaction from crowds wherever he goes, but many casual fans simply do not “get” him or his appeal.

While Z! True Long Island Story is a popular YouTube show, it still only averages 200,000 or so viewers a week. In contrast, Raw garners four or five million.

So while a small portion of viewers are fans of Ryder and totally understand his appeal, a large subset of the WWE universe still see him as a lower-carder with a lame Jersey Shore gimmick.

For their part, WWE never did a very competent job of getting across on Raw why he was such a cult sensation and all the other wrestlers, like Cena, were big fans of his.

Ryder’s lack of mass appeal is also apparent when one looks at his abysmal record as a ratings draw.

For some reason, probably the fact that he is purely a cult act, viewers tend to not stick around whenever he is on-screen, flipping the channel or doing something else.

As Dave Meltzer once noted on his (subscribers-only) Wrestling Observer Radio as he pored over the particularly woeful ratings for one Ryder segment on Raw, “I really don’t want to call him (Ryder) ratings death, but he is certainly not ratings life.’

It seems WWE may have finally taken note of these poor numbers and kicked Ryder back down the card accordingly. It cannot be a coincidence that—after being part of the main event six-man tag match in December, which had one of the lowest numbers for a Raw main event ever—he found himself placed in the cheesy romance angle with Eve the following week.  

There’s also the fact that, despite being an Internet favorite, Ryder simply isn’t anything special as an in-ring performer.

At a time when WWE’s main event and mid-card scene is bursting with incredible talent, Ryder’s bland skill set and run-of-the-mill offense is woefully average.

Oh, he’s not awful by any means and can be decent at points, but compare his in-ring skills to the likes of CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, etc. and he simply can’t measure up. He’s never going to be the guy who delivers a five-star match or can carry anybody else.  

So to what can we attribute Ryder’s fall?

Well, certainly, the company looks to have given up on him (for now, at least). But, rather than stemming from anger over the way he got over (without the support of WWE bookers), it looks to be because they realized Ryder only has a limited appeal to the general audience.

It may be hard for Ryder fans to accept, but the numbers don’t lie. His average wrestling skills may also be a mark against him.

Not that this excuses the shoddy treatment of Ryder. Even if he was never going to be a massive main-event star, he’s still a good merchandise seller and a popular act.

He could be an entertaining mid-card act, if nothing else. WWE should at least try to rectify some of the damage they have done to him and start putting him in some decent storylines.