A few weeks ago WWE released a number of talents, and former Intercontinental Champion Zack Ryder was released from his contract.
Ryder had an interesting run with the company, as he was at one point one of the more popular stars on the roster, but his push was halted almost as quickly as he got over.
Zack Ryder recently spoke to Busted Open Radio about his run with the company, and he noted that in 2011 he noticed his hard work was paying off.
“I’m not going to lie, I saw when I was doing the YouTube show in 2011, I saw my hard work getting rewarded and I was rewarded by the fans, right? They would bring my signs or chant my name at shows I wasn’t even at or buy my merch, and it kind of forced WWE to use me. So, I loved getting my hard work rewarded by the fans, and then, I was continuing the YouTube show, and instead of seeing everything go up, it was going down and down fast.”
Ryder went on to say that he feels he should have gone directly to Vince McMahon to talk to him about his spot on the card, but he didn’t.
“I should have knocked on the door and asked Vince McMahon straight-up ‘What’s going on? What can I do to change what’s going on?’, but I didn’t. So, I can only blame myself because I don’t know what was said behind those doors. If I presented myself and asked maybe I would know. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t realize what was going on, that my career was going downhill fast. 2011 I worked my way up, then two years later WrestleMania in New York/New Jersey I literally was watching the show from Miz’s friend’s and family press box and felt like a total loser, it sucked.”
At this point it’s not clear where Zack Ryder will end up next, but he also noted during the interview that his contract was set to expire in August, and he wasn’t sure he was going to sign a new deal with WWE.
He also said that now that he’s able to go out and succeed or fail on his own he feels “like it’s Christmas morning.”
H/T Post Wrestling
