WWE: 5 Reasons Why Zack Ryder Is An Underwhelming Superstar

5. Sometimes, Being A Good Wrestler With Great Charisma Just Isn't Enough

World Wrestling Entertainment's in a strange place right now. Whereas for years, the company could negate the influence of independent wrestling in its rings by pushing heavyweight grapplers with impressive physiques who could get over with a crowd oftentimes by force of charisma alone, this is no longer the case. The one reality about WWE's purchase of World Championship Wrestling is that is effectively shut the door to the idea of smaller American wrestlers having to meet an ideal set by other similarly sized American wrestlers who succeeded in WWE and WCW. Now, without that filter, WWE's direct access to smaller wrestlers who are dynamic and technically gifted to degrees largely more in line with the lineages of Mexican and Japanese wrestling have changed the expectation of wrestlers of Ryder's size. It's intriguing to consider what the influence of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk as main eventers has done to wrestlers like Zack Ryder. If you're not an independent wrestler signed to WWE that's spent considerable time synchronizing your experience as a childhood North American pro wrestling fan with top-tier and beneficial in-ring experiences in Mexico, Japan and other foreign locales that have added to your arsenal, it's tough. Fans like things that are bright, shiny and new. However, with this new standard of influence, you need not just be fresh, but you need to be continental in your style, too. In absolutely in no way whatsoever meeting that standard, Ryder has stalled.