The WWE Is Ruining... Zack Ryder

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, I look at Woo Woo Woo, You Know It, Zack Ryder.

The only reason you know Zack Ryder is because of Zack Ryder. The WWE is not in the business of helping Zack Ryder get over, but Zack Ryder changed the game in what wrestlers could truly do on their own while in the WWE by starting his own YouTube show, Z! True Long Island Story. This was Being The Elite before Being The Elite. It was stupid, ridiculous, and wonderful, and it built such a following that the WWE couldn't stop denying how over Ryder had gotten without actually being on television.

The WWE started putting him on television but never gave him a significant push, and let's not forget how over he was at the time. There were "We Want Ryder" chants during Raws, Pay Per Views, and even during The Rock's promo one time. I own a stupid looking t-shirt to prove how over this dude was.

And yet, the WWE did as little as they could with it. The WWE did take over possession of his YouTube show to launch their own channel, but it quickly lost its magic and died out shortly after that.

Years later, it led to Ryder winning the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania, but he lost it the next night on Raw, so it was not the most memorable title reign in history. After that, his most memorable moments involved tagging with Mojo Rawley who had more impact on NXT than they did with anything on the main roster.

Since then, he has tagged with Curt Hawkins, No Way Jose, Tyler Breeze, and Tye Dillinger. He tagged with No Way Jose twice, so you probably remember those very important matches on Main Event.

Basically, he hasn't done shit.

In my piece on Curt Hawkins, I recommended getting the Major Bros back together, and it's not a bad plan for either guy. Honestly, I think it's about the best that the WWE can do for Zack Ryder.

That is why, possibly more than anybody else on the roster, Zack Ryder needs to leave the WWE and go to All Elite Wrestling. AEW's aim seems to bring variety and fun back to wrestling. Joey Janela isn't some amazing technician, MJF is still in the process of getting better, and Cody is very good, but not anywhere near the best wrestler in the world conversation. Still, these guys bring other things to the table that get people invested in their matches, and Zack Ryder would fit perfectly in that sort of environment. Ryder's career would go from completely unimportant to one of the most fascinating additions to the hottest brand in wrestling.

WWE is ruining Zack Ryder, and although Ryder is a lifelong fan who seems to love WWE. If he truly loves it, he must let it go on his way to All Elite Wrestling.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Apollo Crews
Bayley
Bobby Lashley
Bobby Roode
Charlotte Flair
Curt Hawkins
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Ember Moon
Goldust
Jinder Mahal
Kane
Karl Anderson
Killian Dain
Kofi Kingston
Luke Gallows
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Shinsuke Nakamura
Tyler Breeze

The WWE Is Ruining... Curt Hawkins

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, we look at Curt Hawkins who needs to look to the past to find his redemption.

Curt Hawkins has been on a bit of a losing streak. The last time he didn't lose was back in February of 2017 against Dean Ambrose. He didn't win the match, but he at least got a no contest, which is basically like winning a title when it comes to Hawkins. In October 2016, he did beat something called Chase Silver in a dark match, but I'm not even sure if we can count that. But earlier in that month, in his very first match since resigning full time with the WWE, he beat Apollo Crews. He has not won in any sort of match since.

As rough of a go as Hawkins has had, it has been even rougher for his tag partners. Since signing with the WWE, he has teamed with Zack Ryder, Caylen Croft, Vance Archer, Tyler Reks, and Val Venis in 2014, five years after he was released by the WWE. So three of those guys retired, two in their relative physical prime, one was released by WWE although he has had success in the tag division overseas, and one guy probably wished he got released, because the WWE has done everything they can to choke off his self-made popularity. It is not a great idea to tag up with Curt Hawkins.

So what should the WWE do? Well, as bad as tag teaming has been for his partners, one of them actually did manage to stick around the WWE and even start a podcast with his former partner, so let's get Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins officially back together. Are they going to immediately be one of the better tag teams on the Raw roster? No, but they will be a tag team that makes sense, and that should put them in title contention when you have a team like Chad Gable and Bobby Roode as champions. Their main objective will be getting heel tag teams over, but as a tag team, they are strong enough to get on the occasional hot streak and threaten the champs. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's a huge step up from where they are right now, and if you actually let these guys show their personality, they have the chance to build a real fanbase and become a very interesting tag team.

There is no reason not to do it, so I do not expect it to happen anytime soon.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Bobby Lashley
Bobby Roode
Charlotte Flair
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Ember Moon
Jinder Mahal
Kane
Karl Anderson
Killian Dain
Kofi Kingston
Luke Gallows
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Shinsuke Nakamura
Tyler Breeze

The WWE Is Ruining... Tyler Breeze

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, I continue the series with the Prince of Pretty, Tyler Breeze.

If you remember Tyler Breeze in NXT, you will recall how truly awesome he was when he was first beginning his gimmick. He not only took hundreds of selfies before every match, but he also had a live feed from his phone as his entrance video. His first feud in NXT was with CJ Parker, not the Baywatch star but the man now known as Juice Robinson in NJPW, because Parker kept photobombing his selfies. Breeze was so over-the-top ridiculous that the crowd couldn't help but fall in love, and he backed it up by consistently having matches that stood out on NXT, not an easy thing to do.

So it made sense when he got called up to the main roster, even though he was never able to attain gold at NXT. But although he came out hot by immediately attacking Dolph Ziggler, they didn't actually follow up with anything, and he was soon only there as an enhancement talent, losing to basically anyone and everyone that stepping in the ring with him. When a guy loses that much, it's pretty easy for even his biggest supporters to lose interest.

Somehow, with from the depths of creative hell, Breeze emerged, with the help of Fandango, to create one of the most interesting and beloved tag teams of the past few years in Breezango. They managed to get incredibly over by acting as The Fashion Police who originally just gave people tickets for being unfashionable, but somehow turned into detectives who solved mysteries. It was incredibly stupid, but it was also incredible.

Even though they were beloved, they were never able to turn that into championships, and the gimmick has been on hiatus after Fandango suffered an injury. That has left Tyler Breeze in limbo as his run as a singles wrestler has been...completely forgettable. He's 0-4 on Raw, including two losses to Mojo Rawley. He does have two wins on Main Event, but those are over Curt Hawkins and Mike Kanellis, so a world title push seems a bit far off, and it seems like WWE is just biding time until they can reunite him with Fandango.

But can't the WWE do any better than that?

Tyler Breeze is one of the few people in the company who can not only fully embrace his character but can be consistently entertaining while doing it. Just let the man be entertaining. I do think he can have the most win-loss success with a tag partner like Fandango, but wins and losses aren't everything. Ultimately, with the stacked roster that the WWE has, I don't know if Breeze should ever hold a singles title. He could be a transitional secondary champion, but with his character, a belt doesn't do a whole lot for him. In wrestling, one guy wins, which means one guy loses. It's probably best if Breeze loses more than he wins, but there are plenty of guys that Breeze can beat in order to make him a credible threat against more prestigious competition.

I think the biggest thing that needs to happen to maximize Breeze is to let him use his creativity. He was always great at giving backstage interviews, and the Fashion Police stuff with Fandango was fantastic. It's not like he needs a lot of time, so I'm pretty sure they could spare 1-2 minutes each week and just let something entertain the crowd. Also, wouldn't a fifteen minute match between Breeze and Chad Gable be absolutely awesome? Those are two guys that can easily move from heel to babyface, so you can go either way on it and just let them go out and put on a great match. And the beauty of Tyler Breeze is that he can lose yet still be elevated just by putting on a fun match and show personality.
WWE seems to only want to push "cool" wrestlers, but sometimes I just want to watch fun wrestlers. With Breeze, the push doesn't need to end in title reigns, all he needs is time to let people enjoy him as a character and wrestler. For anybody that says WWE doesn't have endless amounts of time, yes, they do. They currently recap recaps on Raw, and they let Roman Reigns talk for 15 minutes. Just let Roman Reigns kick ass instead of talking, and use that time to get two guys over instead. 

This isn't difficult, guys. In fact, some would say it's a Breeze.

Other Wrestlers WWE Has Ruined
Bobby Lashley
Nia Jax