Zack Ryder debuted in WWE in 2008 as Brett Major, part of a tag team with the future Curt Hawkins. The two then changed their names, joined up with Edge, and won the WWE Tag Team Championship. Before long, though, the alliance fizzled, and Ryder was on his own. He was given a new character -- a Long Island-based loudmouth -- but soon faded into obscurity. The resourceful young grappler decided to reclaim some popularity by starting his own YouTube series, The Z! True Long Island Story. Ryder's social media popularity translated into a real following, and chants of "We Want Ryder" filled arenas by late 2011. Finally, WWE gave in, giving Ryder a push and a big win -- he defeated Dolph Ziggler for the United States Championship at the TLC Pay-Per-View. Things were going great... for about three weeks. Kane, who had recently returned as a heel, began to attack Ryder every chance he got (simply to get at John Cena), soon costing him the title to Jack Swagger. Frequent Tombstones from "The Big Red Machine" left Ryder in a wheelchair -- one in which he was sitting when Kane shoved him off the Raw entrance ramp. To add insult to injury, Ryder saw his crush, Eve Torres, kissing his supposed friend, Cena. The whole thing smacked of subtext -- Kane represented the WWE machine, and Ryder represented the fans and their interests. If a wrestler gained a following without WWE's permission, he could expect to be punished for it. Spite on WWE's part aside, though, it was downright stupid -- Ryder could have been a huge star. Today, he's floundering once again.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
