Stunt Granny – Pro wrestling, Movies, Television, Sports and Music opinion and analysis from a bunch of jerks

(NOTE: My brief conversation with Dave Lagana over Twitter this morning began with no intention of it being turned into a blog post. However, as the discussion went on, I realized how important it was to get these thoughts out to everyone who couldn’t see them for themselves on Twitter. And anyway, out of the 175 million registered Twitter accounts, only 69 of them follow @StuntGranny, and one of them is Lagana himself. See, people know who we are! Dave, I appreciate you allowing me to interrupt your morning and am sure these thoughts will be well-received by the literally dozens of SG readers. P.S. Follow Dave Lagana @Lagana, and follow his podcast @IWantWrestling)

As many wrestling fans were last night, I was distraught (yeah, that’s a strong word, but following wrestling is my hobby, and it’s still real to me, darn it) over Long Island’s own Zack Ryder not appearing on Monday Night Raw last night as it emanated from Ryder’s hometown.

Ryder has made a name for himself in the past 12 months as a “Jersey Shore”-like guido with an obnoxious but infectious catchphrase (“Woo WOO woo! You know it!”), one-legged tights (he’s down to no-legged trunks now) and a four-month-old YouTube Web show that garners more than 100,000 views per episode thanks to Ryder’s and friends’ sense of humor, self-deprecation, charming amateur videography and editing, and especially the feeling that they’re creating this just as much for us, the fans who care, as they are to kill time and have fun.

Hell, Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho and Wade Barrett came out in support of Ryder on Twitter after his lack of appearance Monday. Ziggler said WWE didn’t “rib ‘the kid’,” they ribbed “the fans” and “the boys in the back” (wow) and even “kicked [Ryder] in the nuts” (double wow). Jericho called it “lame,” saying wrestling should be about “fun,” and Barrett simply Tweeted the initials of Ryder’s battle cry: “WWWYKI.”

Are you serious, bro? Really, would it have been so hard for WWE to allow Ryder to wrestle on Raw in front of his hometown crowd?

To hear former WWE writer Dave Lagana tell it, it’s not as easy as you’d think.

I lucked into a Twitter conversation with Lagana on Tuesday about the fact that the increasingly beloved Ryder didn’t get the chance to capitalize on his growing popularity by basking in his own glory on his employer’s flagship television show. There’s no better, more experienced and more appropriately responsive person on Twitter to ask these questions of, so I inquired if he had any “insight as to why hometowner @ZackRyder was left off the actual Raw program.”

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Filed under: Eric's Blog, WWE News | Tagged: Chris Jericho, Dave Lagana, Dolph Zigger, Monday Night Raw, True Long Island Story, Twitter, Vince McMahon, Wade Barrett, WWE, WWWYKI, YouTube, zack ryder | 2 Comments »