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The Earnings Report: Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins

Over the last two years, WWE has released nearly 120 people from employment. Some of these were somewhat expected, however many of these releases came as a shock to the fanbase of not just WWE, but professional wrestling as a whole. With the drawing power, creativity, and incredible talent these performers had, letting them go was a baffling decision. Even some of the more reasonable cuts, such as midcarders they weren’t even using were confusing because of the potential that WWE seemed to be just...ignoring.

Citing budget cuts as a reason for almost every single release, while simultaneously continuing to gobble up talent for an already bloated roster, one that could easily be used in order to protect the health of existing talent by allowing for more tag team matches and sabbaticals, the company appears to have gotten out of the business of telling stories. Rather, they’re far more interested in the buying and selling of wrestlers: hire so they can’t make WWE look bad, and fire when they realize the money they’re paying those same people could go right into their own pockets.

It’s not about the booking. It’s about who you own.

The fact of the matter is, WWE has never wanted to be in the business of professional wrestling. Vince McMahon himself has spurned the term since he bought the company from Vince McMahon, Sr., back in 1982. Ever since, it's been sports entertainment, and it sneers at the very idea that it has anything to do with the independent promotions--promotions that continue to surface and thrive since he essentially eliminated the territory system by buying them all up early in his tenure as owner of the company.

The issue with WWE's seemingly willful resistance to telling good stories, or telling real stories at all, is the fact that they're missing out on all of that sweet fan cash they're chasing after. They want the easy way to riches, and therefore they are missing out on billions more they could be bringing in if they expended the barest minimum of effort. If they supported talent to generate interest rather than cutting them to boost their own salaries, if WWE would start creating stars instead of looking for them, they could have the world's most bloated roster, and take advantage of that fact. They could shore up house shows once the pandemic allows for it, have great rosters for TV that are truly exclusive to their shows, book stellar PPV cards, and all the while protect their talent since they refuse to provide them with any other protection that an employee might require.

To be blunt, the goal of this series is to show just what WWE has thrown out, and how badly they're screwing up by doing so. We'll be taking a look at the releases that occurred between 2020 and 2021, case by case, and how WWE could have had a valuable, profitable, popular commodity if only they had held onto them – and expended a minimum of effort to produce incredible results. It’s going to be a mixture of speculation and fantasy booking to see every way possible that things could have gone differently. This will apply to released superstars only, not those whose contracts ran out, and it won't necessarily be in chronological order.

At the end of each dream scenario, we'll be showing what really happened to the talent, as well as all the points where fantasy became reality...and cost WWE, along with its shareholders, a ton of money and a lot of power.

With that said...let's look at the first case in this series: Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins.

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The perennial loser. The renegade sensation. Ten years apart, floundering within the ranks of WWE – or, in the case of one, being flat out fired and re-hired.

Then Hawkins is selected as a special guest referee, and despite his losing ways as a wrestler, he's a razor sharp ref. The Revival take umbrage to this, and when Hawkins is down his best friend is there to watch his back.

From there, it's a comeback story for the ages, culminating with a pre-show tag team victory for the hometown heroes in New York at Wrestlemania. The losing streak ends at 269, and you can be damn sure that they're spelling Zack Ryder's name right on the TV graphics from now on.

Which they do, of course. Thanks to the fact that WWE has taken their own mistakes and acknowledged them through storytelling -- how they overlook their midcard, how they’ve failed to capitalize on stars who can forge their own popularity on their own terms -- Hawkins and Ryder become a highly reliable commodity. They deliver great performances, they play the underdog angle well, and they take Ryder’s catch phrase seriously: they’re always ready. On the house circuit, and on TV, they're omnipresent – on the midcard, yes, or the first match of the night, but the reactions they get are huge. They’re a hard act to follow, and nights when they’re the first match out, the energy levels are through the roof for the rest of the event.

WWE even promotes the duo’s side project, the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, adding an infographic during every match they wrestle. The duo doesn't sell the property, but as various in-jokes on the podcast grow in popularity, there are backstage vignettes that pop up with Hawkins and Ryder playing with (and of course, promoting) the various wrestling action figures available from WWE. Occasionally, a well known catch phrase from the podcast ends up in a scene, and they get a new shirt in the WWE store...designed, of course, by their favorite artist, who ends up doing even more work for WWE, growing his audience.

Their title reign continues, despite some singles and non-title losses. They remain a steady draw—Win Or Lose, they are Never Defeated.

Figure It Out, their show on WWE's YouTube channel, continues to generate views. On air promotion of the podcast grows their listener base, and soon their title reign extends from two months to four months, ending six months later. By then, Season 3 of the show is already in the works. The podcast even develops their own YouTube channel with some cross promotion on WWE’s own, one that offers exclusive behind the scenes content from Figure It Out, and other various vlogs chronicling their collecting adventures.

With their Cinderella story at its conclusion, their success and good fortune provide inspiration for a new gimmick: the Gratitude Era, with the duo spreading their message through the locker room. A few other midcarders join them, and while it's entertaining every time it shows up on TV, it never quite turns into a joke. Rather, they form a popular stable surrounding their collecting, their upbeat message, and their sense of humor that offers a spotlight to other gifted midcard workers, and even builds up guys that have been reduced to high profile jobbers.

A line of Gratitude Era shirts is released, spoofing styles from the stars and legends of the original Attitude Era. Legends appear on TV from time to time to ally with these masters of positive thinking. Charities are involved, raising money for great causes to support the superstars around them – such as various cancer charities connected to Roman Reigns' battle with leukemia. The company even goes in on the annual toy drive the podcast starts doing, making donations of their own and creating exclusive merch whose sales go towards buying still more toys for donation -- merch that’s so successful, there’s even talk of licensing of an actual podcast toy line. WWE even takes a step from Hawkins and Ryder, and hosts meet and greets in the various towns they visit with a new, unopened toy as the price of admission.

Here and there, as time goes on, one or the other earns a shot at the likes of the Intercontinental Title. They join R-Truth as record setting holders of the 24/7 title, and even feud briefly for who has held it the greatest number of times. In the end, they reunite to beat a champion simultaneously, and maintain a long standing record as the longest reigning 24/7 co-champions in WWE history.

What's more, they remain a constant in the tag team scene. Top competitors, number one contenders, with numerous other reigns to their credit. Their YouTube show soon spawns a channel of its own—WWE owns Figure It Out, but now the boys have a budget, and they're shopping for collectibles not just as a pair, but with other WWE superstars and celebrities outside the business.

Their activities outside the ring grow so successful, the dream becomes a reality: with WWE’s backing, they launch their own podcast network, complete with live shows taking place in various cities hosting major WWE pay per views. Other wrestlers in the company are invited to join the effort, make appearances at the live shows -- and the creative outlet does wonders for backstage morale.

Once in a while, the duo starts to crop up in bigger title scenarios, their reputations as tenacious underdogs providing fodder for a good program with the next big star. Maybe they score some major wins, maybe they don't, but Hawkins and Ryder, or as they start calling themselves, The Majors, are always ready for a fight—and their Major Marks are never far, supporting them every step of the way.

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That's the fantasy. This is the reality.

Figure It Out never got a third season, but the shopping exploits of Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) and Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers) live on on the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast YouTube channel—that was real, as was the development of the Major Pod Network. The network features various shows -- audio, video, and both -- with a wide cast of characters from all over the business. What started with a podcast about collecting toys has spawned a full fledged fantasy wrestling figure promotion, FWF, with its own show. There's also a show about theme parks, one for trading cards, another for video games—there's even a podcast where Cardona discusses the history of Z True Hollywood Story, the internet show that made him a champion twice over, self-anointed and elevated briefly by WWE.

They do live shows, too, with Major Pod Live 11 slated for January 22, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. What’s more, they’ve been bringing in big names all along. Guests from previous shows have included The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, referre John Cone, and stars of the past such as Raven and first ever Tough Enough winner, Maven. Friends of the network appear on various shows and at live events, among them being Heath Miller (formerly Heath Slater), Dylan Postl (Hornswoggle), Tony Nese, and more.

The network has a staff, too—and have gone on to employ their own fans. Remember the artist in our fantasy scenario? That was the online artist known as TTD, a gifted fellow that has been designing t-shirts for the podcast all along, and has graduated to designing gear for Myers and Cardona as well. Their gear from Wrestlemania 35 was one such endeavor -- he’s not just a fan anymore, he’s an employee of Cardona and Myers, and his creations are appearing on the merch and gear of many others.

There’s also, of course, Zombie Sailor, a man with a gift for finding vintage toys. Along with becoming a regular collaborator with Cardona and Myers, he’s also a supplier, and now works full time selling rare lots of mint condition collectible toys that have never even left the packing case. He’s also the man producing exclusive merchandise for the network on a regular basis.

Brian Myers on his own is now wrestling with IMPACT, under his own name and the moniker of “The Most Professional Wrestler.” His debut post-release had him competing for the world title, and he's remained a visible figure in the promotion since as a top notch heel. Myers has also been making a name for himself as a producer of star level talent with his wrestling school, Create A Pro Wrestling, which has been feeding a steady stream of talent to AEW in the form of MJF, Max Caster, Kris Statlander, and others—like network producer and fan favorite, Smart Mark Sterling.

Matt Cardona remains one of the most hardworking men in this business. After a brief appearance in AEW after his release, Cardona has been making the rounds, appearing on IMPACT in a feud with Myers and eventually landed in Game Changer Wrestling where he reigned for a time as their champion until Jon Moxley took the title from him back in September. He’s been a regular favorite ever since, proving himself as a highly effective heel that fans love to hate, and never fail to support.

The charitable endeavors are real as well—since the inception of the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast, Myers and Cardona have run an annual holiday toy drive culminating in special events held at Create A Pro with donations increasing every year. Collectibles dealer Ringside Collectibles supports the effort by offering free shipping to those who order during the toy drive, which powers still more donations to the effort—they often make donations of their own as well, and are a pillar of the network as a permanent sponsor of the core Major Wrestling Figure Podcast. They also made that toy line a reality, with every exclusive release of figures & accessories selling out in record time or breaking the website outright.

The Major Marks? They're real as well, the fanbase of the podcast. They show up for every special limited merchandise run. They pledge to the network's Patreon, and the Patreon exclusive Facebook group the duo created as an incentive has become an incredibly close knit community that not only celebrates and supports its own, but protects collectors within and without from scams and fraudsters that might otherwise give reputable collectibles dealers a bad name.

In short, Brian Myers and Matt Cardona are doing very well for themselves. They're still performing, they've given mainstream visibility and acclaim to a very niche hobby, and are very literally amassing a media empire. What's more, they're doing it slowly, steadily, and with barely a hiccup to be found. That's what happens when you run a company with genuine passion, by telling great stories, and by listening to and caring for your fans.

Sure, maybe it’s not an overly realistic look at what could have happened. There’s licensing issues, other various and sundry legalities to consider, but even promoting the podcast could have been profitable for WWE. Using Myers and Cardona as a direct line to an important consumer group in their fanbase could have changed the course of history.

Making their talent successful only helps them, and supporting their outside efforts, especially their charitable ones, could have earned a lot of goodwill from the WWE Universe. Every dollar they earn going forward, every accolade, every success, is one less thing WWE can use to their advantage.

This is the very first WWE Earnings Report—and already, the losses are piling up.

#wwe #the earnings report #zack ryder #matt cardona #brian myers #curt hawkins #the majors #the major wrestling figure podcast #wrestling figures #professional wrestling

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