How does a lower-card wrestler get over one million followers on Twitter? The answer is to do what Zack Ryder did in 2011. Fed up with his standing in the company and tired of waiting for his opportunity to be passed down to him, Ryder decided to do something about it himself, which led to the creation of Z! True Long Island Story, a YouTube show that he promoted on his Twitter account. The popularity of the show, spurred by some big-time superstar rubs from John Cena and CM Punk, led to Ryder essentially getting himself over in spite of the WWE creative team, not because of them. In the process, his followers soared to over 1 million. Why is Zack Ryder so popular on Twitter? Because he is one of us: a lifelong wrestling fan (and child of the late 80s and early 90s) who uses nostalgia references combined with catchphrases to put forth an entertaining product. Even when his push died in 2012, Ryder would continue to entertain on Twitter, making self-depreciating references to his floundering career. Any mere appearance on Raw is followed by a jubilant tweet, and with his victory over Fandango a couple weeks ago, he celebrated on Twitter as if he just won the WWE title. Despite his large following, Ryder still responds to his fans, hosting random Q&A sessions and retweeting funny tweets. He may not be doing well on Raw, but Zack Ryder is still a Twitter superstar.
