Quote:
Originally Posted by XL
And only 4 years later he was WWF Champion.
After his buddy Shawn got him involved in one of the hottest properties of the era (DX) and then he was consistently booked in the Midcard going toe-to-toe and often besting the likes of Ken Shamrock, Owen Hart, The Rock, etc.
That followed by a lot of booking support - and of course talent - led HHH to the top (we'll ignore the nepotism involved too as we've covered that. A lot.)
I'm not saying Ryder is the next icon. I'm not even saying it's not his fault he's where he is. I'm asking if YOU would attribute any of his failure to the way he was used. I know now that you wouldn't.
The "he got a shot and didn't take it" argument is stupid. Want an example of a guy that was thrown out there with a shit gimmick/shit booking/etc? Whatever happened to that Issac Yankem guy?
Ryder was over, you'd be stupid to argue that. Not just with the IWC/YouTube guys, he was legit over with entire crowds chanting for him (something the face of the company hasn't managed for years now). It just seems to me that beyond a token US Title win WWE did little to support the character. Is he amazing in the ring? No, he's servicable. Is he great on the mic? No, but he's decent enough. Is he Main Event material? Jesus, no. But he could be a VERY useful hand in the middle of the card. For example, a 2 month feud with Damian Sandow would have made for good TV and would have helped get Sandow over.
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I agree with your points. All Ryder needed was the right type of year-long feud with the debut of his Long Island Iced Z gimmick, and that would have given additional purpose to his gimmick. But without such intense feuds, most fans are very limited in how much emotion they will put forth towards a new or repackaged character.
If WWE Creative had cared, then they could have written a several-month feud for Ryder for when he returned from injuries around last August, and if they did, then Vince applied the brakes.