It’s been a while seen we’ve seen Zack Ryder on Monday Night RAW. The former United States champion was drafted to the flagship show during the 2018 Superstar Shake-up, but he has yet to wrestle a match on the red brand.
Ryder joined Lilian Garcia's podcast to talk about not being used on Monday Night Raw:
"At the end of the day, like right now with Monday Night Raw, I am not being used," Ryder told Garcia.
"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.
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."
Ryder recalls his disappointment over how much his Youtube channel had fallen when he moved it over to WWE’s official channel:
"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."
He discussed what he would have done differently back then:
"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.
I could have been in better shape, a bit bitter. I was still kind of skinnier there; perhaps not by much but 10 lbs makes a big difference but back then I didn't know what I was doing. All that is on me. I am not blaming anyone else but myself."