10 Wrestlers Punished For Trying To Steal The Limelight
1. Zack Ryder
A cultural touchstone for the suppressed current generation, Zack Ryder's booking following a diligent effort getting himself over was the harshest possible response to a talent colouring outside WWE's rigid lines.
Utilising YouTube as a vehicle for success long before the company even went near it, Ryder became a sensation with his long-running 'Z! True Long Island Story' series. Crafting a universe of in-jokes and outside-the-box concepts, Ryder was a featured performer on television in crowd chants alone until the company were forced to insert him into storylines.
After Madison Square Garden's euphoria for the character rattled a show-closing promo by The Rock at 2011's Survivor Series, he was awarded with a United States Title run that expidited a savage burial of just about every facet of the persona.
His girlfriend Eve Torres was in love with his best friend John Cena, all while Kane took twisted and comedic pleasure in physically dismantling him on a weekly basis. Shoving him off the stage in a wheelchair was a fitting coda for the character - daring to take even slight control of his own career had resulted in Ryder losing it completely.