What should WWE do with Zack Ryder?

[Magic Mark]

Zack Ryder is arguably one of the most talked about wrestlers on the WWE roster. He has a lot of charisma, good look, and can certainly go in the ring. However, he has been given a jobbing role recently, and to be honest, I don't mind. I absolutley LOVED Ryder around the time that his show debuted. I gave an almost deafening pop when I saw them air a video package based on him and his show. But once he won the US title back in TLC 2011, I guess he just lost all his steam. He was put in a god-awful feud with Kane and John Cena. He then lost his US title, and lost at Wrestlemania 28. Zack Ryder to me is like that one restaurant you used to go to, but ever since they took your favorite meal off the menu, you stopped going there. Another analogy is liking an underground band, and all of a sudden their music videos get popular. Everyone else likes them, but you like them before they were popular. Anyways, Zack Ryder doesn't matter to me anymore. With guys Like The SHIELD, Wyatt Family, etc. I think that all of the chances Ryder was given is officially a thing of the past.

So what can WWE do to Ryder? I've seen a lot of people want him to get released, which I wouldn't mind. I'll post a poll with this, and if none of the options are your cup of tea, just state your answer via reply

 

[crippler]

Best thing for Ryder is reform The Major Brothers (Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder) they were a good Tag team and are former WWE Tag Team Champions

 

[BeastFromTheEast]

I say put him back with Hawkins as a tag team. Don't call it The Major Brothers though because it sounds so dorky. If they did form a team again they would need a more serious approach and that name can't be taken seriously. I think Ryder and Hawkins could be a good heel team if WWE would turn Zack and give him and Hawkins some dirty victories over a couple of face pairings. Maybe even a push for the titles would be pretty interesting with a reinvented Ryder/Hawkins team.

 

[Ric 'The Nature Boy' Flair]

I say put him with hawkins as a tag team again and give them a push them vs usos would be pretty sick

 

[SydTinDad]

Zack Ryder to me has always been nothing more than a novelty act that rapidly aging adolescents and children under 15 love to emulate.

He should ask for his release and go to TNA. If your going to wallow in mediocrity, might as well get TV time to do it. I have always found him unappealing, useless, and a flavor of the month.

This roster is already chock full of people like him. Cut em' loose.

 

[TB77]

I think Ryder would be best served in a tag team. Hawkins is the most logical and easy choice so why not? They could work as a face or heel team. I would prefer they work as faces as there are already too many heel teams and very few face teams.

 

[R.K.O]

Midcard push. Zack Ryder proved that he can get over which is more than what we can say for many IWC favorites such as Antonio Cesaro. He more than deserve a midcard push ala a Kofi Kingston or a Santino Marella. Of course he will not be a World Champion but midcard is not too much to ask. Sorry I am not with the hate bandwagon as I feel that if someone worked as hard as Ryder did with his show, go out of the box and actually try to get over instead of sitting his ass waiting to get used/released he deserve to be rewarded. Too bad WWE/Vince doesn't agree with this sentiment and chose to punish/bury the guy for it.

 

[bobbem]

Before I would have said put him in a tag team, but recently I am not entirely sure.
I have asked myself the question 'Do i actually miss Ryder on Raw or Smackdown?' the answer I come up with everytime is not really. (Although he could of at least been used during the battle royal on Monday Night, I mean if Khali can appear twice in one night. Ryder should have at least been in it.)
It's not because he is bad in the ring or even awful on the mic because he really isn't. He just seems to float about the place his 'Feud' with Kane was terrible and his US Title run was so short it was pretty pointless.
If he was to turn heel I would rather see him align with Heyman and be put into a Tag Team that way maybe with Hawkins as a few people have mentioned or The Miz as WWE see him as the Social Media Ambassador that would actually be a decent tag team with a very good Manager.
But I wouldn't riot if Ryder got Future Endevoured he just hasn't been consistent enough when given a shot even if it was a short shot that he was given.

 

[TheLittleOne]

i believe he has been growing out his hair with the thought to reform a babyface team with curt hawkins.. they go way back teaming together in northeast indies about ten years ago.. they are best friends, and they will be used to help increase the wyatt family, the shield, its good to have a talented babyface team.. they might even get the belts at some point.. its the only logical way to move the tag belts from one heel team to another heel team.. this is my prediction.

 

[Jimmy Carter]

Keep him on Superstars, pair him back with Hawkins, have him show up in a tag team or U.S. contenders match every now and then. Ratings haven't plummeted since Ryder's been off RAW, so why change what's working?

 

[InstantAttitude]

Midcard Push. Kid GOT OVER by himself, got a push in the end of 2011 and then it was randomly and ultimately HAULED for no reason. Seriously complete waste. When Ryder won the title at TLC 2011 the title felt like it actually mean't something.

 

[backwardsrko]

I say put Zack in a story line where him and Darren Young are wrestling and then they accidently kiss.! later on down the road they keep bumping into each other and it causes a relationship between the two! Causing them to become the Sweethearts of WWE for the year 2013! ............what! ..... its an idea!!! Dont get all offended yall!

 

[TempestH]

Ryder is fine in his current position. WWE made the mistaken assumption that Ryder's newfound overness meant he was the next big main event star, so they put him in every other TV segment rubbing elbows with main event talents where his limitations were exposed and he was obviously outclassed as a performer. And since Ryder couldn't live up to WWE's unrealistic expectations, they just tossed him aside like trash.

The problem is that he doesn't need a push so much as he needs WWE to actually care about the lower midcard. WWE seems to use the lower half of the roster almost exclusively to put over the guys in the upper half. A lot of talents are being wasted right now. Why does Ryder have to job to guys like Ryback, Cesaro, and Swagger and be made to look like a scrub, when he can have a decent feud (not necessarily a PPV match, but just a series of interactions over a few weeks) with someone like Heath Slater and they can make each other look good.

I'd say put him in a tag team with someone. He and Curt Hawkins would be good as a face team, since I think Hawkins needs a face turn more than Ryder needs a heel turn. They could easily be pushed as a pair of young, good looking heartthrobs to market to female and gay male fans. Other potential tag partners could be Alex Riley or Ted DiBiase Jr.

 

[Fw1812]

It's a tough one. I like Ryder, I really do, but he picked a gimmick that was certain to have a short life span. Add in the storylines with Kane and Cena and Eve, which only accelerated the process, and Ryder's character is thoroughly dead.

However, he's stuck in character limbo right now. He's still making money on merch, so WWE don't want to rebrand him even though it's his only hope. They certainly won't release him, Hawkins doesn't really seem to fit with the gimmick...I really don't see what they can do.

What I hope the WWE does, though, is start off by giving him a slight push toward the midcard as one last-ditch effort. When it inevitably bombs, spend a month giving him more and more outlandish material, milking every last cent from the gimmick and hopefully wearing it out in everyone's (even casual fans') minds. That might allow them to repackage or release him, hopefully as a tag team with Hawkins. The kid deserves one more chance.

Oh, and before I forget,

Another analogy is liking an underground band, and all of a sudden their music videos get popular. Everyone else likes them, but you like them before they were popular.

You're doing it wrong.

 

[Mustang Sally]

An interesting problem. I welcomed Creative ridding Zack of his "goofy" persona, yet his transformation into a more serious character seems to have robbed him of what made him unique.

When the company paired him briefly with Santino, I recall saying "Yep. Mmm-hmm" in recognizing that they were creating a team I wanted them to call: "Send In the Clowns." Although WWE had quick flirtations with pushing them as individuals, they came back to earth in short order, as was proper.

I see Zack as a perennial jobber who hit the jackpot because of a self-propelled Internet program that Vince McMahon probably hated, yet was smart enough to milk for the limited value it yielded. I figured Vince would fire Zack for going outside the company to promote himself, but I was totally in error.

Still, just when someone on this board was asking yesterday whatever became of Zack, we see him on Smackdown the same night, jobbing to Curtis Axel. Zack had lost the stupid hairstyle and was acting like a real competitor instead of a grinning clown, but he remains strictly a jobber and it's hard to believe the company has anything big in mind for him.....although if he can keep his job long enough, the spotlight might shine on him again. If it can happen to Axel, maybe it can happen to Zack.

 

[Xemmy]

This is one of the more divided polls I've seen. And I'm not sure anyone has the right answer. Ryder's got some talent. That much I can be sure of. But while he's got charisma, his gimmick is strange and a little off putting. But then again, a lot of people actually like it. It's what got him noticed. I voted to keep him as a jobber, simply because I don't think there's room on the roster for him to be pushed. Not now anyway.

Simply put, other talent deserve the push. And he may deserve it too. I don't care about him, but he might deserve it. Who am I to say? But the other talent on the roster is in a better position for a push, so they're going to get it. That's just reality. Short of a miracle, or another internet surge (which I think may be one and the same for him), Zack Ryder is not going to be given a push, and he's going to stay on Superstars and Main Event- whatever they're calling the C shows now. That's where he belongs right now.

 

[Ding_Dong_#2]

Zack Ryder is very much an underdog at the moment; his gimmick has been played out so there is not much anyone can do to promote him without taking a different direction.

I would capitalize on the fact that he is where he is at the moment, and have him either capture a belt in a surprise upset, or have him continually pounded each week by The Shield. People care enough about him for it to have an impact, and most importantly, it will get people talking about him again.

Pre-1995, he would almost certainly have been released by now. I don't think TNA is the answer as a stripped-down Ryder would be nothing, unless he completely reinvents himself, which he is very capable of doing.

WWE Creative are probably having (or had) this very same conversation. He is not a natural fit for a tag team, neither could he feasibly be a world champion. Is it enough for either them or Zack to just plod along as a low card wrestler for his entire career? None of us would really want that either.

 

[LSN80]

It seems like a Ryder thread pops up once a week, asking the same question. What should WWE do with Zack Ryder? The answer is simple: Keep him where he is.

I may have missed it, but I didn't hear Ryder chants at Wrestlemania this past year. Could that possibly mean his popularity peaked, and then substantially waned? I believe so. He was an Internet fad who got over based on his show, and once he started playing a bigger role on TV, he was, frankly, overexposed and exposed for what he is.

People want to blame it on Cena or Kane, but the fact of the matter is that Ryder simply can't hang as a top talent. He's just not that guy. He served a purpose and furthered angles and actually helped Eve Torres get over as the top heel in the women's division, and if he can be used that way, he should be. To get people over. His attitude following his de-push certainly didn't help, as he took to Twitter and complained.

I think that all of the chances Ryder was given is officially a thing of the past.

I think so too, and it's the right move if so. Perhaps he over-estimated his own worth, but the way he handled himself after his push ended showed that he doesn't have the professionalism or the maturity to be a featured guy. He's fortunate to have a job in the #1 wrestling company in the world and living a dream many would be thankful for. He's obviously passionate about the business, but he doesn't have the intangibles to stay over as a heel or face. He's been surpassed by the Shield and the Wyatts and plenty of others because they have layers to their characters that he simply does not.

I think Ryder is exactly where he should be.

 

[GameOver]

Seriously a new look is coming, yeah the look is only slighly better then the Bro look and tho he did show some more intensity on Main Event it's too little too late

Bring back Kurt Hawkins and reunite the Edge-Heads, they were a good tag team, as a singles Zak sucks, Kurt had potential to be that cocky guy but they lost interest in him.

If they dont want to do that it's time for Zak to go the way of his interenet channel, Wish you well in your future endevours, then he can goto TNA and be the face of the company

 

[BeWater]

I feel the opportunity to push Ryder to catch on has passed, at the peak of his popularity they should have kept testing the waters with him by putting him in different programs. But his reaction ceased just the slightest little bit and they pulled the plug, and there may be no coming back from that. You could go back to letting him be himself and throw him with someone he has good chemistry with and put him in a Tag Team and see where that leads?

 

[conrad405]

i voted for 3 things

Put him in a tag team
Turn him heel
Other (please explain)

starting with put him in a tag team it has to be The Major Brothers

make him heel if he was put as a singles wrestler or in a tag team there needs to be a heel turn

Other (please explain) and i think this is imo the one thing he NEEDS to do is have a gimmick change. he's a great wrestler and i think his comedy gimmick and the woo woo woo gimmick has gotten stale and needs a heel turn and a brand new gimmick.