The Keg Stand: Zack Ryder is the Brian Scalabrine of the WWE

If you are a WWE fan, you have heard of the “Ryder Revolution”. One year ago, Zack Ryder was rarely on television and was a jobber in the WWE. Now the entire Internet Wrestling Community is talking about Zack Ryder. At WWE Live Events, fans chant his name, wear his broski wigs, and bring Zack Ryder signs. He has become very popular. The question is how popular is he? The fans love him but do they want him to be the WWE Champion? When I think of Zack Ryder, I don’t think of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin or The Rock. I don’t even think of a wrestler. I think of Brian Scalabrine.

Who is Brian Scalabrine? If you don’t live in Chicago or Boston or if you didn’t go to the University of Southern California, you might not have heard of Brian Scalabrine. In Chicago, my hometown, Brian Scalabrine is a legend. Scalabrine is a basketball player for the Chicago Bulls and is known as the White Mamba. He is not one of the best players on the team. Scalabrine is in his 11th NBA season and he has averaged only 3.1 points per game in his career. He has played in over 500 games but he has started in only 61 games. Despite that, he is one of the most popular players on a team that includes Derrick Rose who was last year’s NBA Most Valuable Player. Scalabrine only plays when the Bulls are leading or trailing by a lot late in a game. When there is about six minutes left in a game and it is obvious the Bulls are either going to win by many points or lose by many points, the fans in Chicago start chanting Scalabrine’s name. Once he is in the game, the fans cheer whenever he touches the ball. If he finds a way to score a basket, the fans blow the roof off the building. Despite his limited skills, Scalabrine is very popular in Chicago.

I see a lot of similarities between Ryder and Scalabrine. When I hear fans chanting for Scalabrine to enter the game at Bulls games, I think of the “We Want Ryder” chants from the WWE Capitol Punishment Pay-Per-View in June 2011. When Ryder gets a huge reaction every time he enters a WWE ring, I think of the huge reaction Scalabrine gets every time he walks on the United Center floor in Chicago. I’m not a Zack Ryder fan but being a Brian Scalabrine fan, I think I know what the fans want to see the WWE do with Zack Ryder. I think the WWE needs to listen to the fans and continue to give Zack Ryder a push but I don’t think they need to put Zack Ryder in the main event every week or make him a WWE Championship contender. Chicago Bulls fans love Scalabrine but they don’t want him to be the starting power forward on the Chicago Bulls. They don’t want the Bulls to make him the face of the franchise. They don’t want him to be taking the final shot when the score is tied late in the game. I think the same can be said about Zack Ryder. He may be the most popular Superstar in the WWE right now but that does not mean you put the WWE Championship on him. The fans enjoy watching Zack Ryder but I don’t think that means they want to see him headlining WrestleMania or becoming the next WWE Champion.

I think one of the biggest problems the WWE has right now is making an entire episode of RAW entertaining. When I watch RAW, I have noticed that the opening segment, the segment during the top of the second hour, and the main event are usually enjoyable to watch. However, all of the things in between those segments are usually hit-or-miss. I would love to be able to watch an entire episode of RAW without wanting to turn the channel. I think what the WWE should do is give Zack Ryder at least one backstage segment and one five-to-ten minute match every week on RAW. Just put Zack Ryder on TV as much as possible and put him in situations where he can entertain the crowd. The WWE has already started something similar to that with Brodus Clay and it is getting a good reaction from the live crowd. I don’t think Zack Ryder will ever be a great main event star in the WWE but that doesn’t mean he can’t help RAW become a better overall show.