WWE has always been an extremely competitive promotion. Although the wins and losses may be scripted, deciding which performers will go over has always been a battle. In a space with many famous and charismatic stars, newcomers will always a hard time coming up. Such was the case with Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. The two recently went on the ‘Talk Is Jericho’ podcast. While in conversation with Chris Jericho, they opened up about how Vince McMahon always encouraged the superstars to “grab the brass ring”, and how he was a hypocrite in the end anyway.
Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder expose McMahon’s hypocrisy to Chris Jericho
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Reportedly, McMahon consistently encouraged superstars to become the best in the promotion. He thought that there wasn’t enough competition amongst the stars, which was bad for business.
“Every year, as long as I was in WWE, the RAW after Mania we had this BS company….everyone there at TV meeting where they say, ‘The brass ring is there, it’s yours, it’s a fresh year. Who is gonna get it?’” Hawkins stated.
The truth was that the WWE would never allow superstars to go over organically if they didn’t want them to. Zack Ryder had amassed an audience through YouTube. However, WWE held back from going over. This was despite him being extremely popular among fans.
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In the same interview, Jericho notes that Daniel Bryan was one of the few stars who was forced to go over, because of his popularity.
“There is a strange resentment where, if Vince doesn’t think of it, it’s not valid or real. The same thing happened with Daniel Bryan when he first came in. He got over because he knows how to get over, but they resisted it for so long until they didn’t have a choice. I feel the same thing happened with Zack Ryder,” said Jericho.
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Daniel Bryan was at the peak of his popularity therefore, holding him back did not make any sense. Curt and Zack spoke extensively about this hypocrisy on the podcast.
The WWE and McMahon stopped making speeches about performers trying to ‘grab the brass ring’, as they knew it wasn’t true. Regardless of how much a performer tried, they would not be pushed over, unless the WWE let them.