There are times when all WWE sees when they sign someone to a contract is a body. It's a good looking body for the purposes of pro wrestling. It has a full head of hair, tanned skin, six-pack abs, defined glutes, calves, deltoids, and so on, and so forth. It's more-than-likely possible that when Long Island, New York natives Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins were signed by WWE in 2006, both were bodies that the company expected to groom into superstars fitting a typical mold of what WWE performers have looked like for the better part of five decades. However, in the case of Zack Ryder in particular, this has absolutely not been the case. He's become a star, and at a time where it's inherently beneficial to do so, even one that doesn't fit a traditional mold. But in being different yet falling short, there are some lessons that Ryder teaches that deserve to be learned from. In his last eight years in World Wrestling Entertainment, Zack Ryder has gone from being an Edgehead to a WWE Tag Team Champion, the company's groundbreaking social media engagement leader, a YouTube pioneer, Internet Champion, United States Champion and top-selling merchandiser. However, by the end of 2012 (continuing to the current day), Ryder has found himself sliding as a top merchandiser, without the US Championship, still holding a now-meaningless Internet championship, not-so-pioneering on Youtube, one of many WWE social media engagement leaders, and a singles wrestler not even able to re-team with Curt Hawkins, now largely not a part of WWE broadcasting. How does a WWE superstar get so close to the top of the mountain yet seemingly suddenly precipitously tumble to the bottom? There are five solid reasons why Zack Ryder has tumbled, and is thus, underwhelming.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
