What if Zack Ryder had won the WWE Championship?

#2 YouTubing Becomes A Main Event Activity

Other top stars may have taken to YouTube, too, if Zack Ryder's run had set that template.

Zack Ryder largely pioneered the use of YouTube and social media for a WWE talent to create his own push. One could argue that his efforts worked, as he did have a stint far better featured than he previously had been, and certainly emerged from the pack of under-utilized talents to form an organic connection with the fans. Likewise, WWE choice to push everyone to be on social media and generate original content for the Internet can be traced back to what Ryder was doing before any of it was en vogue.

However, WWE seemed to almost punish him for working around them, given how de-pushed he was as 2012 went on. Had WWE leaned into what Ryder was doing for himself, and Ryder leaned back with his best efforts yet, it may well have set a template for how talents WWE would steer talents they wanted to push from the start. Maybe The Shield would have had their own Internet show, or Braun Strowman would display feats of strength several times a week on social media. As such, self-directed Internet behavior may become not only something lower card guys did to get noticed but something main eventers did routinely.