Repacking Zack Ryder

[CM Steel]

Zack Ryder: The jersey shore comes to the WWE. This guy first got over upon his single's debut in the WWE by his theme song alone. I liked it! Zack Ryder had won the WWE U.S. championship in late 2011. And ever since...Zack Ryder hasn't really had much success. The guy has been getting his back broke (by Kane) to getting his heart broke (by Eve Torres). Can't this guy catch a break (no pun intended)? The last time that we've seen Zack Ryder on WWE TV is when he was doing a spot selling WWE merch for the WWE shopzone. And we haven't seen him since. So is it about time that the WWE repackaged the Long Island Iced-Z?

I mean just look at what the E did to Zack's buddy from the LIC Tyler Reks. Tyler Reks is no longer in the WWE but when he debut on the defunct ECW brand he had somewhat the same character as Zack Ryder. But after the E repackaged Reks and brought back a while later on the Smackdown brand as this massive savage. And for that time being it did Tyler Reks wonders before getting thrown in a tag team with fellow LIC homeboy Curt Hawkins as "The Mid-Card Mafia", lol. So if the WWE repackages Zack Ryder and brought him back to WWE TV. What should be his angle character wise?

 

[cleissonsg]

Well, repacking means a gimmick change, right? While it can be great (Husky Harris / Bray Wyatt, Idol Stevens / Damien Sandow ) it also can be horrible ( Wade Barrett / Bad News Barrett, Masked Kane / Corporate Kane )

But I don't really think Zack needs repacking, he just needs more screen time. Maybe he can team up with Curt Hawkins again, but keeping his current gimmick.

 

[Reflection]

I feel he is someone that doesn't need to be "repackaged" too dramatically or turned into a bad guy that resorts to underhand tactics. Rather, just have him smile a bit less; that should eliminate most of the goofiness associated with him... and use the old school way of 'climbing up the ladder', struggling, fighting hard, and slowly make his way to the top. That way, when he finally gets there, the people will take him seriously, and will have his back when he finally wins the world title.
Instead, if he is simply turned heel and he starts winning by cheating, that type of momentum is mostly shortlived, and will be extinguished as soon as he finds himself in front of a major player, against whom such tactics would not work.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think that the ship has sailed when it comes to Zack Ryder. I might be wrong as Ryder is still quite young and still has a lot of years left in his career, but I think that WWE is far more interested in other talents. Ryder's a hard worker that's put his all into his Jersey Shore party boy character and he's got a lot of personality. However, for the most part, Ryder's character has devolved into little more than a generic babyface jobber.

When you look at guys who're getting a lot of focus on the main roster, aside from long time mainstays like Cena and Orton, WWE brass is high on Daniel Bryan, The Shield, Big E. Langston, The Wyatt Family, Cody Rhodes, Goldust, AJ Lee, Summer Rae and several others. It's only going to get more difficult for Ryder if talent like Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville and Paige get called up from NXT.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Can't this guy catch a break?

He already did. In (apparently) defying Vince McMahon's wishes to keep his people performing within the confines of WWE, Zack forced management to give him a run that actually ended up with him holding a minor championship. That was quite an accomplishment, mainly because I figured Zack's Internet offerings might get him fired, far from being pushed.

But, he shot his wad with that gimmick. I have nothing against Zack Ryder, but his "clown" schtick was already being filled by Santino Marella.....and how many goofballs did the company need? They even teamed the two of them briefly, which was ironic in itself.

As far as I can see, Creative did toy with some changes in Zack, having him cut that ridiculous haircut (unless it was his own idea) and making him a little more serious in his dealings in the ring. None of this has seemed to make him catch on with the fans.

Maybe Zack should be happy to have caught lightning in a bottle once. Not everybody does.

 

[Dagger Dias]

They do not need to repackage him. They need to legitimately push him and then follow through on the push. Ryder had a gimmick the fans liked. At one point they were chanting for Ryder during a Rock promo. THE ROCK got interrupted by a Ryder chant. Then there was his US Championship reign. Why did that end so abruptly? He should have had a lengthy reign as a fighting champion for the fanbase who wanted to see him win. This is the most over Ryder ever was until the belt was given to Swagger and the angle with Kane that followed. WWE did not follow through with the push when Ryder was still quite popular.

They can give him any gimmick or any type of repackaging they want, but unless he gets an actual push then it won't matter. He could be a pirate, a soldier, a super hero, the results would all be the same without a push. What Ryder needs is to return in the gimmick he's had since ECW and be allowed to re-establish himself so the "We want Ryder!" chants will begin interrupting the top tier wrestlers again, give him the US Championship again but in a legitimate reign this time as a fighting champion for the fans, see where that takes him. It will only work if WWE follow through with the push and not end it abruptly in the middle of it for no reason. There's nothing wrong with Ryder's character so I honestly do not want to see a repackage at all. Not even a heel turn.

 

[L@RISANO]

They do not need to repackage him. They need to legitimately push him and then follow through on the push. Ryder had a gimmick the fans liked. At one point they were chanting for Ryder during a Rock promo. THE ROCK got interrupted by a Ryder chant. Then there was his US Championship reign. Why did that end so abruptly? He should have had a lengthy reign as a fighting champion for the fanbase who wanted to see him win. This is the most over Ryder ever was until the belt was given to Swagger and the angle with Kane that followed. WWE did not follow through with the push when Ryder was still quite popular.

They can give him any gimmick or any type of repackaging they want, but unless he gets an actual push then it won't matter. He could be a pirate, a soldier, a super hero, the results would all be the same without a push. What Ryder needs is to return in the gimmick he's had since ECW and be allowed to re-establish himself so the "We want Ryder!" chants will begin interrupting the top tier wrestlers again, give him the US Championship again but in a legitimate reign this time as a fighting champion for the fans, see where that takes him. It will only work if WWE follow through with the push and not end it abruptly in the middle of it for no reason. There's nothing wrong with Ryder's character so I honestly do not want to see a repackage at all. Not even a heel turn.

And the concept of the push, my friend, is the key.
As you gave said, whatever the character is, the guy needs a push. He needs to be booked well enough. Look at Ryback and Ziggler for an example of guys who have had the plug pulled on them. Remember the Ryback "Feed me More" chants? Remember Ziggler's cash-in? Now imagine if those guys had been pushed more, WWE would have had possibly 3 huge NEW stars in their Babyface ranks.
Look at Big E and Roman Reigns(the Richmond crowd was chanting his name!). Eventually, the crowd will get behind those two.

It is all about WWE getting behind the guy, giving him the right booking to go with his character. The likes of Ziggler,Ryder and currently Daniel Bryan are guys you use as underdogs. The crowd cheer for them in the hope that they will triumph over adversity. The likes of Ryback, Big E and Ryback are such that they are pushed as unbeatable monsters who do their talking in the ring.

If the WWE pushes a guy who can connect with the crowd to a certain level, as long as his gimmick is a bit interesting, he will become relevant as long as the booking is right and goes along with what he is to be portrayed as.
A repackaging of a character is only needed if he is continuously portarayed on TV and the character/superstar has no connection whatsoever with the crowd by way of boos/cheers. Ryder hasn't been on RAW/SmackDown for quite a while, I am sure if his Jersey Shore gimmick is booked right starting next week, it is only a matter of time before the crowd gets behind him again.

Simply, the WWE is a monopoly in the Wrestling world, those who they push will eventually become relevant and those who they never push will never become relevant. TV time is the KEY to any superstar, and the WWE is in charge of who gets that time.

 

[Cody Trail]

Zack Ryder was almost like the Bad News Barrett of 2011. His gimmick worked on a 5 minute web series, but when you transition that character onto Raw or SmackDown every week, the novely starts to wear off. And Zack Ryder's novelty, unfortunately, had worn off by Mania 28.

 

[Father Uncle Oscar]

With all the attention the tag team division is getting as of late, I am hoping for a Hawkins/Ryder reunion and at this point I don't care if it's for one night only. But these two guys can't be averaging five minutes on screen a week for the last couple years (if any), and to be frank about it, these two were at their best when they were dressed like Edge. Hopefully somebody within the company will think of this and turn Hawkins face, because clearly he hasn't done very well to get people to dislike him (or react at all).

 

[Pedigree1]

I agree with the valid points on here. Zack plain and simple doesnt need a push,or be repackaged. That ship has sailed along time ago on him IMO. he got his little title run,that should be enough to satisfy the masses. There is nothing unique about him,nothing special,everyone got caught up in the Ryder Hype but it died as quick. The WWE clearly has their plate full of up and coming superstars!

Zack is a great worker hard worker,but he will be in the situation he is now!!