10. Zack Ryder
For a brief period, Zack Ryder was one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE - and it was through his own doing. Ryder created a YouTube show that made him a cult favorite with fans, and eventually, the company was forced to push the ultra-popular star. His good fortunes didn't last long, though - Ryder's reign as U.S. Champion was brief, and he was repeatedly humiliated on TV by John Cena, Kane, and Eve Torres. At the time, it literally seemed as though WWE was trying to punish him and make fans feel stupid for having supported him. The frenzy around Ryder cooled off when it became clear that WWE didn't see him as a major part of their plans, but it never completely faded. Even now - almost four years after his flirtation with stardom - Ryder gets huge reactions from audiences, and his signature "Woo Woo Woo" catchphrase and "LI" hand gesture are still popular with the WWE Universe. The company's solution to their problems with Ryder seems to simply be to keep him off of television. He hasn't had a real feud in years and he appears on Raw very rarely - after all, it wouldn't do much for the company to routinely show a lowercard worker who gets better reactions than the main eventers.
Scott Fried
Contributor
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
See more from
Scott