The Cinderella story of Zack Ryder is well known among fans by this point and isn't really worth repeating, but in so many words, his rise to prominence in 2011 essentially guaranteed him a roster spot in five of WWE's last six video games. To give you an idea of how over he was, the Internet Championship that he created on his web show "Z! True Long Island Story" was featured in both WWE '13 and '14. Yes, an imaginary title can actually be defended in a WWE video game. Ryder's popularity peaked when he captured the United States Championship from Dolph Ziggler at 2011's TLC event, but it was all downhill from there. Ryder soon found himself the laughing stock of WWE after being humiliated by Kane week after week in early 2012. His love interest Eve turned on him at WrestleMania 28 and he has yet to recover. He remained a regular on Raw for the remainder of the year, but his TV time was greatly curtailed going into 2013. He just recently scored his first singles win since December 2012 in a match against Fandango. While it's not surprising Ryder didn't make the cut, it is rather disappointing. Does this mean the Internet Championship won't be included, either?
Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.
