Do You Still Want Ryder?

[JBK2008]

I def still want Ryder. He worked his butt off for a year to get where he's at now and then he got written off just in time before he got too stale with the crowd. The time off will help and when he comes back full time, hopefully he'll have been able to polish his character off enough to keep in high in the mid card for a long while. He's solid in the ring and now with the Kane/Eve/Cena thing going on and past him, he doesn't have to be a complete goof now. Now he can pursue The U.S title, get revenge on Jonny Ace or Swagger. The sky is the limit now for him.

 

[Mike D]

It's unfortunate but his push was just to make quick cash off the IWC , nothing more . I believe the top brass at WWE didn't and don't want to push him but 'had to'.

As a WWE wrestler in Ryders position the only way you earn good money is with the major ppv and house shows surrounding them . The WWE removed Ryder from the major PPVs, Royal Rumble and Mania and essentially took him off house shows during this time with the 'injury' angle . It stinks because the guy did work his butt off and developed a legit fan base without WWE's help .

 

[Mustang Sally]

It's unfortunate but his push was just to make quick cash off the IWC , nothing more . I believe the top brass at WWE didn't and don't want to push him but 'had to'.

That's what I think, too. For a long time after Zack started his self-promotion campaign, I thought Vince McMahon was going to leave him off TV because he doesn't like his employees using the Internet to create their own buzz (a la Matt Hardy). Zack's whole "Me-Show" fooled lots of fans, who seemed to be wondering how Vince could ignore a guy with such tremendous popularity, not realizing the guy was generating it himself.

Surprisingly, the whole thing apparently began working when Zack started showing up on TV. I figured they'd give him a few matches to appease the Internet folks and then drop him back to Superstars. Instead, the company gives him a short, minor title reign. So, okay.

But, after Zack got put out of commission by Kane.....and after he caught Cena and Eve in the strawberry patch.....it looked as they might "serious up" his character. Maybe it was finally time to see him drop the clown act and go back to his Hawkins-Ryder beginnings.

Instead, Eve kisses him last night and we're right back to that goofball persona. Could you believe that stupid look on his face? To tell the truth, it might be interesting to see how this plays out.....and if it will be done without John Cena, who is otherwise occupied for the next few weeks.

Do I still want Zack Ryder? Not really, but watching a naive guy being manipulated by a conniving woman always makes for good theater; maybe this angle can be entertaining.

 

[BarryHorowitzfanclub]

To paraphrase someone else: Vince only likes Vince's ideas.

He doesn't like outside influence much,and wants control.
With that said, he also loves money. And Ryder's merch was outselling Cena's for a few weeks. Ryder has proven he's got it, he just needs time. NO need to hurry him into the crowded picture. It is much better to make people want something than get it.

 

[MillionDollarMan]

Yes I myself personally do still want Zack Ryder. He is good in the ring and has a large fanbase. The SS night at MSG was a huge moment in his career with everyone chanting his name. With the correct amount of tweaking he could be huge.

That was a great night. I was fortunate to be there in person. We all know how seriously Vince takes MSG, so it was great to have the opportunity to show Vince that Ryder needed a push. Crowd wouldn't shut up till they got their Ryder addiction filled.

That said, this storyline has been terrible for Ryder. He's going to try and come across as a goofy Cena, but doesn't have the stones to pull it off. And can he please get rid of that absurd grin he used after Eve kissed him. Looked like he was 'special.'

 

[Cena Is A Punk Rocker]

I was at a staff meeting at work last month. My boss asked me if I thought the company should take a different approach to our hiring. I responded with WOO WOO WOO, YOU KNOW IT. So now the unemployment checks started coming and I can afford to pay my internet bill. How the hell did that work for Mr. Ryder?

 

[Headman]

He was basically booked as Zack Gowan 2012, his matches suck because the matches are there to push an agenda, not to show off him or his opponents ability. We get a horrible storyline that buries (nearly litterally) Ryder, and we get to see a man with a "broken back" walk down a ramp (instead of wheelchairing), while limping on both feet alternatively, then walk into the ring, no problems, then limp back. (sorry, I needed to push off the steam of how awful that entire promo was written).

But the booking Ryder received on the 2nd half of his push killed him for casual fans. Pretty sure WWE was planning to make Cena more edgy, but *****ed out halfway through and the whole story changed to an Eve heel turn (although we haven't seen a pure **** bitch gimmick in a while), which left Cena being Cena, Eve being an automatic superheel, and Ryder breaking his back 6 weeks in a row.

Ryder's opening booking and push was really great, minus the fact they just kept pairing him with Cena to try and make him instantly relevant.

Ryder's US title reign could've been solid, and made for some really fun jabs at the IWC (Let's be honest, the IWC is always so giddy when the business throws us a bone).

I still don't have a problem with his booking. Other than the broken back. They really should have come up with an injury that doesn't take a year to heal from. As for in the ring, he hasn't done anything in his entire career from Major Bros, to Edge Head to now to show me that he's even average in the ring. If you have average matches with Dolph Ziggler I see a problem. I never saw Ryder going too far after his initial push so perhaps that's why I'm not as outraged as some people. I think he should consider himself lucky that he was "Instantly relevant". Otherwise he'd be working Superstars still.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I still want to see Ryder succeed in the WWE. A year ago that would have seemed like an impossibility. He used his popularity among the online fans to get himself over and you gotta give him credit where it's due. Not many can pull that off and earn an onscreen push as a result of it. I had been a fan of Ryder's ever since back when he was a clone of Edge in 2007. Seriously. That was his character. Hawkins and Ryder were onscreen clone underlings of Edge. Anyways, I've followed Ryder as a fan ever since those days. He has come a long way, winning the tag team titles and recently of course the US Championship when he was beginning to see a great push. Things were getting more interesting with each week as Ryder won the United States Championship, was associating with Cena, his relationship with Eve, and the feud with Kane. Then.... it got complicated.

Eve turned heel, Kane's suddenly feuding with Orton instead, Cena's moved on to The Rock, and Ryder seems like an afterthought again. What happened? I'm not sure. I hope that Ryder's push continues and that he will still see some success. Could WWE have pushed him only to derail it as a middle finger to the online fans? Doubtful. This is the same era that has seen guys like Punk, Bryan, and Christian all become top guys. WWE are listening more to the online fans, and Ryder will likely get pushed further because his popularity should be taken advantage of. Cena and Kane needed to enter their Wrestlemania feuds. I don't know what exactly they can do with Ryder at the moment, but I seriously doubt his entire push has ended. He could always be in the GM team match and then enter another more relevant angle after Wrestlemania is over.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I like Zack Ryder. Ryder is someone that's worked hard to get the attention of fans and to get as over as he has over the course of the past year. If Ryder was some talentless hack that was completely overblown by the internet hype, it wouldn't bother me if his push were killed.

I do think that Ryder has been overly hyped by the internet to some degree, but Ryder does have genuine personality, charisma and in-ring ability. Zack Ryder is still a very, very young man and he's proven to the WWE that he's able to get over with fans and that's important. Ryder's brief appearance in Boston this past Monday on Raw was met by a huge pop from the live audience and it'll be interesting to see where they go from here. As a guy that's had to walk using a cane in the past, Ryder did a good job of selling the injury to his back, at least up until the kiss from Eve. Although, to be fair, I'd probably have a bit of trouble concentrating on the task at hand if Eve shoved her tongue down my throat.

 

[XXJJ]

I think he is fine as a midcarder. With his current gimmick I dont think he is much more than that. A lot of fans were overrating him though.

Cheering for Ryder kind of became the "cool" thing to do for some fans. When the WWE starting pushing him and after he won the US title he started to lose his charm with the IWC.

 

[Charlesworth]

Not really to be honest. I respect him for 'getting over' in YouTube land and going on to better things and more screen time on Raw/Smackdown. But theres only so much of the bad acting i can take. I couldn't care less if he comes back.