Former United States Champion Zack Ryder was interviewed by Dave Lagreca and Doug Mortman on the Busted Open satellite radio show.
Below are some highlights:
Wrestlemania in the NY area: “It’s cool that it’s in New York/New Jersey, basically in my backyard, but I’m not on it. It kind of sucks. I got all my friends and family who are going to be there and they are expecting to see Zack Ryder on the show and as of now he is not on it. So that part of it is heartbreaking. It’s still going to be a great show with Rock and Cena. It’s going to be one of the best Wrestlemanias of all time.”
His rough year in 2012: “2011 was the rise of Zack Ryder. I started my YouTube show out of just frustration. The beginning of the year I was a nobody, not even on TV. Through the course of the year from doing the show and being active on Twitter and on Facebook, and then ending the year as U.S. champion. I really thought 2012 was going to be my year and as you saw, it really wasn’t. Kane threw me off the stage and off loading docks. Eve kicked me in the bro-nuts at Wrestlemania and from there I was just forgot about. I was losing all the time, barely doing anything on the shows. 2013 better be different. It can’t be worse than 2012.”
The demise of Z! True Long Island Story: “Well when I started it, I knew something had to be done. I hated my stock in the WWE. I was a nobody. I wasn’t on the shows. I didn’t even have an action figure. I didn’t have an 8×10 promotional photo. So as far the YouTube show, in February of 2011, my parents got me the flip camera for Christmas. I really didn’t know what to do with it. Maybe I will just start a YouTube show and it kind of took off. I did it for a hundred weeks straight. It should have ended after 50. After I became the U.S. champion, WWE came to me and said ‘we want to move this to our YouTube channel.’ I was really hesitant to do it and I should have said no. That was the end of the Z! True Long Island Story in my opinion right there when I made that switch to the WWE YouTube channel at around episode 51. The fans just assumed I sold out, when I was still doing all the work and putting it on their channel and they instantly turned on it. Then WWE was editing it and taking things out, even though they said they weren’t going to touch it. Then it just became a job and not fun. For the most part the last 50 were horrible, but the first 50 changed the business. Now Raw is all about social media and Tout, and Facebook and Twitter. They weren’t like that before Z! True Long Island Story.”
If WWE was open to him doing his own show: “I was so under the radar that the WWE didn’t even know the show existed the first two weeks. Nobody knew I was doing it. I thought there was a chance I would get fired over some of the things I was saying. I just didn’t care. Steve Austin was one of the guys in the beginning who told me that “hey that was great and keep it going and keep pressing buttons. Get your voice out there” Steve was a huge help. I knew this show had to take off or I was going to be fired. One or the other. It was going to either help my career or get me fired. It got me noticed. It helped my career. I don’t regret doing it at all.”
