Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins recently appeared on must-listen edition of Talk Is Jericho, and as well as discussing their early days in WWE, they talked openly about getting over with fans...and being punished for it. In the 2010s, Ryder, in particular, managed to gain a huge fan following online, but rather than being pushed, he was frequently treated as an enhancement talent in the years that would follow.
Fans remained on his side, of course, but he never really managed to regain his momentum, and Ryder explained that when he was at the top of his game at a Madison Square Garden house show, he was pulled aside by Triple H...and buried for the pettiest reason possible.
"I go out there. The place is going nuts, and I get to the curtain. Triple H is like, 'Come here,' and I’m thinking finally this is it," he explained. "He’s gonna say, 'Good job, kid.' This is what I’ve been waiting for like, how can you deny? This is Madison Square Garden, right? He pulls me aside, and I had just got fresh blond tips on my hair like that week."
"So he asked me, 'Why did you dye your hair?' I’m like, what? Madison Square Garden is chanting my name. You’re asking me why I dyed my hair. I’ve been dying my hair for months. It was just a fresh job like come on man. I thought he pull a come here like he would say, 'Good job, man. Alright, we believe in you. Let’s go,' but it’s like you can’t go dying your hair like that or something like that."
Hawkins would go on to talk about Vince McMahon's mythical "brass ring," and revealed a surprising backstage secret about a yearly meeting which, well, pretty much everyone in the company knows was complete nonsense.
"Chris can attest to this. Every year, as long as I was in WWE, after the RAW after Mania, we have this BS company everyone there at TV meeting where we say the brass ring is there. It’s yours. It’s a fresh year. Who’s gonna get it? Ever since 'Long Island Iced Z' and 'Z! True Long Island Story,' they don’t even bother with that meeting anymore because they know it’s not true. It’s not true because even if you grab the brass ring, you’re going to get your hands smacked. You’re not going to have it."
Ryder, meanwhile, would go on to express regret about not calling WWE out for holding him back while he was finding success. "One of my biggest regrets is that I was too young and afraid to almost, not stand up for myself, but question like, “Hey, why is this happening?” I should have went right to Vince and said like, “Hey, I’m selling this merch. I’m doing this. I’m doing that. Why is this happening?” And I just took it."
We're sure that both men will land on their feet, and Ryder has already started teasing an All Elite Wrestling debut.