10 Things We Learned From Matt Cardona & Brian Myers On Talk Is Jericho
8. They Kept Toy Collecting Quiet
"What up, Dead? I just collected your new fig!".
That's not something Zack Ryder would've ever dared to say when approaching The Undertaker. He and Hawkins both knew that nerdy things like "being a mark for the biz" and toy collecting would be frowned upon by some old-school members of the locker room. So, they kept it on the down low.
Hawkins made a good point to Jericho by noting that he and Ryder had grown up in an era that "romanticised" pro wrestling. He had WWF bed sheets, WWF tupperware, WWF toys and countless other pieces of WWF merchandise coming out of his ass as a kid, whereas some of the older crew didn't experience that during their own childhoods.
Despite being proud of their passion for collecting, Ryder and Hawkins realised early on that it wasn't for everybody and that it'd probably hurt their chances of being taken seriously in WWE. That's why they kept any shopping trips secret from higher-ups and senior locker room leaders.