Zack Ryder doesn’t have a lot of regrets regarding his WWE career, but he does wish he was a little more proactive when it came to asking about the direction of his character one time.
After Ryder became more popular with WWE fans due to his Z! True Long Island Story series, he was featured a lot more on television, even winning the United States Championship in 2011. He then was a part of a storyline with John Cena and Kane that had Ryder in a wheelchair and back brace with one notable moment featuring Ryder getting thrown off the stage on Raw in 2012 by Kane.
The uncertainty of what this meant for Ryder’s character had him wanting to go to Vince McMahon’s office to find out what was going on. But Ryder never did that, as revealed in an interview with Chris Van Vliet, saying that was one of his regrets that he had during his tenure with the company. Ryder was also quick to point out that any notion of him being “buried” at that time was Ryder’s fault and not anyone else.
“During the downfall of Z! True Long Island Story, the fall off the stage and the back brace, I regret not knocking on Vince’s door and ask, ‘What’s going on? Why is this happening? I don’t understand. I’m one of the hardest workers, top merch sellers, I don’t understand.’ People say, ‘Oh, Zack Ryder got buried.’ I only blame me for that because I wasn’t mature enough or wise enough to ask. I blame me for that. Not making excuses. Was I too young, too scared? Probably. Immature? Probably. Whatever it was, I didn’t do it. That’s on me. I don’t blame anybody else. That’s a serious regret,” Ryder said.
Ryder was ultimately released by WWE on April 15 after being with the company for more than a dozen years. Ryder spoke more on his release at this link.
You can check out the interview in the video at the top of the page. If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
