10 Incredibly Creative Ways WWE Stars Got Themselves Over

1. Zack Ryder Created His Own Internet Show

After years of toiling away in midcard purgatory, a silly internet YouTube show is what finally got Zack Ryder over in WWE.

Ryder debuted on the main roster in 2007. After his role of playing a lackey to Edge came to an end, he was largely directionless. He was repackaged as a “Long Island guido” character (as Wikipedia puts it) in 2009 and his act screamed jobber, which is exactly where he landed and stayed. That was until his web series Z! True Long Island Story caught on big.

Since he wasn’t getting much TV time, Z! Was a place where he could show off his creativity and passion for wrestling. It had terrible audio and video, but that was part of its charm. It also occasionally had Mr. Belding from Saved By The Bell! More and more fans began tuning into it, and that passion for Ryder found its way into the arenas. On TV, “We want Ryder!” chants began to break out with increasing frequency. Eventually, management caved and gave him a little something.

It didn’t work out so well.

Ryder was given an inspiring US Title win, but was soon made to look like an absolute fool in the John Cena vs. Kane feud. Then there was the whole Cena kind of stealing his girlfriend thing to really top it off. Still, without that YouTube show, he wouldn’t have got anything at all.

Ryder has never recovered from that disastrous push, but it’s quite possible without his work online he would have been let go long ago. The man did it his way.