Why is "Long Island Iced Z" not a WWE exclusive video yet??

[A-Zone]

Unlike most, I'm not a huge fan of Zack Ryder. I find him quite entertaining on a Santino Marella level but, like Santino, I haven't seen enough out of him beyond comic relief to know the extent of his potential.

However, his videos are getting a huge amount of views (episode 10 got 105,680 views and counting) and as he said in episode 11, he gets more youtube views than Smackdown, Superstars and NXT combined).
Why hasn't WWE.com capitalised on this yet? His shirts are selling out based on these videos alone!

I think the same company who provided us with "word up" should be able to find space in their website for "Long Island Iced Z". It could be a good replacement for the hugely successful "Dirt Sheet" and bring in more viewers for their website whilst there is still a strong cult following and public interest in Zack Ryder. It's like the writing's on the wall but WWE just don't want to push this guy in any capacity. I thought they were renowned for tapping into pop culture. Now's their chance before the Zack Ryder momentum fades.

What do you guys think?

 

[GCoh]

I like Zack Ryder, he has great charisma and good mic skills. But simply, I do not think Vince wants to give this kid a push, not anything behind tag team championship. In some of his videos he is, in a way dissing WWE saying that WWE dropped the ball with Zack Ryder, and are missing the boat with Zack Ryder. I feel like if wwe.com were to add his show then Zack wouldn't be the one doing the writing anymore and it would go downhill...fast.

In my opinion, (for what its worth) let him keep doing his show on Youtube, and the announcers plug it into Superstars/Raw occasionally and keep his merchandise on shop keep selling out the way it is. The only reason its selling out is because he was offering an autograph for whoever bought his T-shirt (via twitter).

 

[johnseamann]

2 things:
1. This is Zack Ryder the guy, not the character. It's a personal project and he gets to reach an audience beyond WWE to speak what he wants, not what some writer tells him to.
2. The WWE Originals' prime has come and gone. We used to have The Dirt Sheet, Santino's Casa, Best WWEk Worst WWEk and Word Up. Now we have nothing. Interest might have faded away.

 

[fenfool]

The released Colt Cabana (Scotty Goldman) after he had a big hit with his blog. I think the takeaway is that they don't give a crap about the internet...they don't really see any value in it, and therefore no threat or benefit. YouTube views mean less than nothing to Vince McMahon...I'm thinking that he views the internet as a fad that has passed. I think the novelty of a WWE employee making a non-WWE spot on YouTube is helping him a lot...bringing the company into it would only hurt Zack.

 

[A-Zone]

2 things:
1. This is Zack Ryder the guy, not the character.

2. The WWE Originals' prime has come and gone. We used to have The Dirt Sheet, Santino's Casa, Best WWEk Worst WWEk and Word Up. Now we have nothing. Interest might have faded away.

1.) Firstly this is NOT Zack Ryder the guy. He clearly does his show in his kayfabe in-ring character. He's using his videos, if anything, to further develop his character because he doesn't get a chance to on Television. WWE may probably edit out his whole "they bury me" segments but apart from that it should be fine. Also, the fact, that RAW superstars happily plug his show on live TV shows shows that WWE management can't be that against the show to the extent where they couldn't put it on their website.

2.) It may be more likely to assume that the reason why a lot of these web shows were cancelled were because the superstars who did them were either given pushes or released. Santino got a relatively big push. Morrison got a big push soon after dirtsheet with the intercontinental title. Miz - well we all know what happened to him. Cryme time soon broke up after Word Up finished and Shad was released.

 

[WZMember####]

Curt Hawkins has a Youtube Account with shows too.

I see Zack Ryder as a wrestler. I dont even think he is much of a comedy guy because WWE really doesnt use him that much as that. I mean, yes he done that Friday Friday thing at Mania but if you think about it compared to the "other" comedy characters. Ryder isnt used that much at all.

WWE should of kept him with Rosa and put him on Smackdown pushed him up that ladder as fast as they could. The fact they didnt is exactly why his videos arent exclusive or anything.

I wouldnt want WWE to take control over his creative outlet...

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

I can't honestly wrap my head around why they're not using these videos on television. I have a few theories:

A) Vince doesn't want to use anything that wasn't his own creation. LIIZ are created, written, and produced by Zack Ryder.

B) Vince doesn't like Zack Ryder's character.

C) Vince apparently hates it when people get over.

Zack Ryder is getting over the same way Santino did -- by being flat-out entertaining. I don't understand why he's not getting television time, or at least official WWE-sanctioned segments, on the website or something.

 

[кαяℓ [zα¢к ρα¢к мємв]

I think the main reason is that Zack Ryder tends to make snide remarks regarding him and WWE. Stuff like "I'm trying to get over" or "WWE Dropping The Ball With Zack Ryder". I also think that Vince McMahon lost out on a huge opportunity during the draft. Moving Zack over to SD and giving him some air time would have been great but instead, Zack remains on RAW. Hopefully he and Curt Hawkins will be reunited on Monday Nights and The Zack Pack will finally be allowed to hold up Zack Ryder signs!

 

[A-Zone]

I think the main reason is that Zack Ryder tends to make snide remarks regarding him and WWE. Stuff like "I'm trying to get over" or "WWE Dropping The Ball With Zack Ryder". I also think that Vince McMahon lost out on a huge opportunity during the draft. Moving Zack over to SD and giving him some air time would have been great but instead, Zack remains on RAW. Hopefully he and Curt Hawkins will be reunited on Monday Nights and The Zack Pack will finally be allowed to hold up Zack Ryder signs!

I agree with you in that the snide remarks are definitely not helping his chances as far as being on WWE.com. However I'd like to think, although very optimistically, that Zack Ryder staying on Raw is not necessarily a bad thing.

Now hear me out, I know Smackdown is probably the easier show to get over on, however Raw is the more watched show. It's the flagship show! Now with the main-event likes of Drew McIntyre, Swagger, Morrison etc.....it'll still be a very uphill battle for Ryder to be recognised on TV but he's one of the few mid-carders whom was able to maintain his spot on the Raw roster.

Who knows, maybe Vince does actually see potential in Ryder. Maybe we'll see him show up on Raw! And with Raw losing a lot of it's filler mid-card talent (Kidd, DiBiase, Tatsu, Bryan, Sheamus etc.) Maybe this is Ryder's chance to move up to the upper mid-Card on a brand saturated with main-eventers.

 

[кαяℓ [zα¢к ρα¢к мємв]

I agree with you in that the snide remarks are definitely not helping his chances as far as being on WWE.com. However I'd like to think, although very optimistically, that Zack Ryder staying on Raw is not necessarily a bad thing.

Now hear me out, I know Smackdown is probably the easier show to get over on, however Raw is the more watched show. It's the flagship show! Now with the main-event likes of Drew McIntyre, Swagger, Morrison etc.....it'll still be a very uphill battle for Ryder to be recognised on TV but he's one of the few mid-carders whom was able to maintain his spot on the Raw roster.

Who knows, maybe Vince does actually see potential in Ryder. Maybe we'll see him show up on Raw! And with Raw losing a lot of it's filler mid-card talent (Kidd, DiBiase, Tatsu, Bryan, Sheamus etc.) Maybe this is Ryder's chance to move up to the upper mid-Card on a brand saturated with main-eventers.

I never really looked at it that way. I mean, during the draft I was hoping, praying, that Zack would be drafted to Smackdown but unfortunately he wasn't. Looking over the RAW roster now, I think Zack could really get over with the current mid-card roster. However, I also think he would have a shot in the Tag Team Division. Bring DZP up from Superstars and have them compete against some mid-card teams, seeing as the Tag Division is pretty dead. I would take anything right now when it comes to Zack Ryder. Just get him on TV Vince!!!

 

[CitiBoy7]

I can't honestly wrap my head around why they're not using these videos on television. I have a few theories:

A) Vince doesn't want to use anything that wasn't his own creation. LIIZ are created, written, and produced by Zack Ryder.

B) Vince doesn't like Zack Ryder's character.

C) Vince apparently hates it when people get over.

Zack Ryder is getting over the same way Santino did -- by being flat-out entertaining. I don't understand why he's not getting television time, or at least official WWE-sanctioned segments, on the website or something.

I agree with you it seems as if Vince can't stand the fact that Ryder is getting over on his own. Vince always wants to take credit in success so he can say I made you so don't expect Ryder to get a push until Vince changes something about his character.

 

[Lucid]

I think putting LIIZ on WWE.com would kill the "anti-establishment" nature of Ryder and not allow his "grass roots popularity" to grow organically.
In a way, it seems brilliant to me. He's young, he plugs WWE, he sells WWEShop.com and it seems like all the "big names" (HHH, Cena, Announcers) all plug him to see where this will go.
I see this as WWE experimenting with getting talent over in a new way. In a way, this is his "push" if you can see it that way.
If Vince didn't "green light" this, it would not happen. The character belongs to Vince.
It's fun to watch and it makes money. It doesn't hurt WWE at all. People will tune in if they "push" him or not.
Taking signs away doesn't hurt Ryder at all.
It makes more people get behind him, and that sells more shirts. And perpetuates his character. Can Ryder be the "unpushed underdog" forever? I guess we'll find out.

 

[Tastycles]

I find it interesting that the IWC seem to think that Zack Ryder is somehow super over and the WWE is holding him back. I think that's wrong. Ryder is amusing, and is obviously a very good self promoter, but I don't think anyone could argue that he gets anything close to the reaction that someone like Santino is getting in the arena, which is ultimately where it matters. Youtube views are meaningless, and so is a popular show on WWE.com - when was the last time a main eventer did anything there?

By keeping it on youtube, they are keeping it visible to everyone in the world, whereas much of the video content on wwe.com is North American only. I suppose they could mention this show when he's on WWE TV, but that happens so rarely that there's not really an opportunity. Zack Ryder is decent enough, but he's not so good that the WWE are shooting themselves by not featuring him.

 

[mrbrownstone]

It probably has something to do with the fact that every episode Ryder seems to take a shot at the WWE i.e. "WWE dropping the ball with Zack Ryder, Missing the boat with Zack Ryder, Im trying to get over etc." why would they want to feature a show that is criticising them on their own website?

 

[jobesukulele]

A) Vince doesn't want to use anything that wasn't his own creation...

...C) Vince apparently hates it when people get over.

That's the Truth.

Rephrased, 'Vince apparently hates it when anything that wasn't his own creation gets over'.

WWE; Vince more specifically, has proved time and time again that he is willing to let the quality of his product suffer just so he can have things his way.

Them's the breaks I guess.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I'm one of the ones in favor of keeping the show as a youtube only thing, I think it's absolutely hilarious the way it is and putting on wwe.com would very likely put greater limitations on it.

If Zack keeps doing what he's doing, he will get over one day, generally speaking the cream always rises to the top. Not always the case, but some people are too good to be held back.

Side note: anyone feel like the comments HHH made were actually kinda shitty towards Zack, where as Cena's comments were genuine and helped to put ZR over?

 

[spinningtorturerack]

I absolutely love the videos, he's clearly in character and is really trying to develop his character which is good, he has taken an initiative and it has got noticed!

This won't be on WWE Originals, simply because by being exclusive to the wwe website, you lose out on the youtube audience who might not cross over to the wrestling site. Simply put, it would bomb on wwe.com

 

[Long Island Iced WXYZ]

I hope they don't become WWE exclusive. Truth be told I don't like going to WWE.com to look at videos as I find their media player and UI not to be as simple as Youtube.

Put it on there sure, but allow the videos to stay on Youtube.

Zack Ryder should be given more TV time than he is. He's got a boatload of talent.

 

[Trill Co$by]

I honestly think that Vince is just waiting for the right moment to pull the Ryder Trigger. With Triple H in Vince's ear and a fan of LIIZ it won't be long before Zack is a M.E. player. If you ask me, I think he just needs the right angle, the right timing, and just the right opportunity.