Zack Ryder Missed opportunity

That’s cool, though - he owns his home and has made enough money to relive all his childhood toy dreams. And he has a hot fiancée who tolerates it. He’s living a pretty good life.

What about Bryan?? By reading your comment I cant help but thinking about him.

Daniel Bryan is way too talented to be buried like Ryder was. Bryan and Punk are two guys who weren’t supposed to be WWE main eventers, but we’re too talented to hold down. I mean if you saw their ROH work you knew they’d be stars in the big time.

They def seemed like they kept trolling Ryder.

Wins Mitb at Wrestlemania, then gets buried

Wins tag team titles with Hawkins at Wrestlemania, then gets buried

WWE doesnt want him except for promoting the Mattel figure.

Ryder had a pretty damn good career in WWE, even if he never returns.
He had at least one feel-good WrestleMania moment, held basically every title other than the World/Universal.
I remember when he won the US title in 2011, he was HOT around that time. And yes, the Kane/Cena storyline didn't do him any favors. I see some saying they should have pushed Ryder more, but as Daniel Bryan has said, the fans are fickle, and most likely would've slowly lost interest. In comparison, it happened with Kofi.
And I myself never saw Ryder as a main eventer. Solid in the ring, decent on the mic. I don't think it helps that his character hasn't really evolved at all in the last 10 years. He was a hell of a company man, and he's basically a pioneer of self promotion on social media, so you got to give him credit for that.

Ryder's situation was a prime example of two major problems that have been in the company for a long time.

1. The Brass Ring lie. You always hear from higher ups that talent needs to reach for that brass ring, grab it and make a name for themselves. Then you have someone like Ryder, who did that, he got himself over, and then not only didn't they do little to capitalize on his popularity, they did things, to try and sabotage it. It's basically telling people, ok, climb to that peak of the mountain and we'll reward you, and once they do it, saying, oh no, I didn't mean you and kicking them back down the mountain side.

2. The lack of structure. What I mean with this is, there really is no more of a main event, mid card, and lower card. It's basically main event, and everyone else. I don't see Ryder as someone that would have been a main eventer, but he could have easily been a stronger mid card talent, with the occasional appearances in main event matches. A strong mid card really has been something that helps to bread talent that could one day break out into that main event scene. It helps to make that next babyface star seem like they earned it. Hell, with Daniel Bryan, part of what made his rise work, was there was a rise. He worked his way up the ladder in the company before he ever had that big moment of beating Cena at SummerSlam. It's just sad, that too often it seems the company wants to focus on a few talent to really get behind, in terms of TV and merchandise. They need to stop the mentality of having THE face of the company, and focus of having faceS of the company.

That first part sounds like me. lol

Those guys still make (or made) really good money. That company has made their talent disposable. If "x" beats "y" on Raw, it doesn't matter.

I don't think you truly know what the phrase "being buried" means.   Too many fans throw that word around not knowing what it means.

Watch the "Rise and Fall of The Ultimate Warrior" dvd.  That is a burial.   A subpar wrestler winning two major titles on the biggest show of the year.  Enlighten me on how that is considered a burial?  Did they take away the IC title the next day.  They sure did.  Angles like that have been happening way before it happened to poor Zack.   The guy was employed there for 14 years.  He had his ups and many downs.  Was a part of good and not so good storylines.   Zack was on tv every so often.  But face the facts.  He hasn't had stock in quite some time.   Did Zack lose 90% of his matches?  He sure did.  Jesus people, not every fry worker at McDonalds deserves to be the general manager of the place.   Even with all that going on.  There is nothing that can be considered a burial.