Zack Ryder garnered a great deal of momentum in 2011 thanks to a YouTube show entitled, "Z! True Long Island Story." The fans bought into his antics on the show and management took notice, especially when fellow Superstars such as Dolph Ziggler, John Morrison and John Cena made cameo appearances. The involvement of Ziggler was most notable as it set up a feud between the two competitors that culminated at the TLC pay-per-view in December of that same year, when Ryder defeated Ziggler for the United States Championship. Had the company realized the potential of Ryder and maintained his push, he never winds up on this list. But they did not. Instead, they had him drop the title a month later to Jack Swagger and set him up to play the role of the "damsel in distress" during Cena's rivalry with Kane. From there, he free-fell down the card before landing back a the bottom with a deafening thud. Despite chants of "we want Ryder" popping up in arenas throughout 2012 and some of 2013, the company did nothing with him, using him as enhancement talent to put over the more prevalent stars, such as Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk. Today, Ryder is as irrelevant as he has ever been. He recently appeared on Travel Channel's "Toy Hunter" program, which matches the amount of times he has appeared on Raw in that same period. Despite being incredibly over just two years ago, selling merchandise by the truckload, one has to wonder what Ryder's shelf life is in WWE at this point.
Erik Beaston is a freelance pro wrestling writer who likes long walks in the park, dandelions and has not quite figured out that this introduction is not for Match.com. He resides in Parts Unknown, where he hosts weekly cookouts with Kane, The Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. Be jealous.
