Zack Ryder Discusses Frustrations of Sitting on WWE's Bench

Despite never struggling to evoke a positive reaction from WWE's fanbase, Zack Ryder is rarely a [...]

By Jeremy Snodgrass

Despite never struggling to evoke a positive reaction from WWE's fanbase, Zack Ryder is rarely a part of Monday Night Raw in 2018. Despite his minuscule playing time, the former Intercontinental Champion is doing his best to keep a fresh perspective.

During a recent appearance on Lillian Garcia's Chasing the Glory Podcast, Ryder addressed his invisibility.

"At the end of the day, like right now with Monday Night Raw, I am not being used," Ryder said. "Can I cry about it or can I be grateful and say that I am still here. I mean, you can go to a toy store and buy a Zack Ryder action figure today so my life can definitely be a lot worse.

Ryder explained that even though his situation could promote resentment, he refuses to allow himself to look at things through a negative lens.

"What am I going to do, sit around and be bitter? I hate when people do that. Like, poor me. Come on, we're here in WWE. Can things be better? Yes! But they can be so much worse. I am not a super positive person, but come on. You have to look at yourself in the mirror. Trust me, there have been times where I have been bitter, but what does it solve? Nothing," he said.

Ryder's WWE origin is one of the more romantic tales in professional wrestling. After starting a highly popular YouTube channel, WWE signed Ryder. However, WWE now owns that content, and have restricted what can be viewed. This bottlenecking has hurt Ryder's popularity immensely.

"I was doing the YouTube show and it was at the peak of its popularity before it went to sh—," Ryder said. "That whole process where I basically had to hand over my YouTube show I saw my hard work literally go down the drain, and everything I did to earn my spot on television only to see it bump down lower and lower. I will admit, I was bitter. I was asking myself why all of this was happening. I had proven myself and I felt like i was being punished. I was definitely bitter for that."

Ryder is making an effort to not get lost in hindsight but does wish he directly spoke to Vince McMahon about the loss of his show.

"I think I could have done a couple of things," admitted Ryder. "I don't really have any regrets, but three in particular with one of them being that time period I should have went and knocked on Vince McMahon's door and asked what was going on here but I didn't. Was I afraid or intimidated? Maybe, but I didn't do it, and that is one of my biggest regrets because I didn't have any ground to stand on. Since then we have built a relationship, but then when I was in my hottest point and was in the top three of merchandise selling at one point I should have went in there but I didn't, which is on me. It was nobody else's fault but mine," he said.

[H/T Wrestling Inc]

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