10 Wrestlers Who've Suffered Most From The WWE Brand Split
6. Zack Ryder
Zack Ryder has had one of the most topsy-turvy WWE careers in recent memory. He got himself over as the “Internet Champion” during 2011’s “Ryder Revolution,” but Zack’s career has been on a steady downward spiral ever since. His John Cena affiliation was disastrous, and before long, Ryder was relegated to squash match duty on Raw and SmackDown ahead of a demasculating NXT relegation.
Things looked to be improving for Ryder when he won the Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania 32, only to drop it to The Miz the following night. He continued to be featured intermittently on WWE programming in the aftermath, however, and briefly feuded with Rusev for the United States Championship.
While these stories didn’t set the world alight, Ryder was back on television and contributing more to WWE programming than he had in any of the past few years. His increased usage levels seemed to suggest a bigger role for the Long Island native post-Draft, but no: Ryder has become a face in the crowd, and a meaningless presence in SmackDown’s tag division.
As American Alpha grow in popularity and The Usos tease a heel turn, The Hype Bros have nothing going on. Ryder and Mojo Rawley are non-entities at this point, and all hope of a Zack Ryder career renaissance (no matter how slight) have been all but extinguished.