By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

WWE wrestler Zack Ryder, who is campaigning for the Saturday Morning Slam GM role, talked about his frustrations over the past year, regretting handing over his YouTube show to WWE, and likely missing WrestleMania in his home market in a recent interview with the Busted Open satellite radio show.

- Ryder, who is currently weaving together his character's frustrations with his personal frustrations on Twitter, says it "kind of sucks" that he's currently nowhere close to a WrestleMania match.

"I got all my friends and family who are going to be there and they are expecting to see Zack Ryder on the show and as of now he is not on it," Ryder said. "So that part of it is heartbreaking. It's still going to be a great show with Rock and Cena. It's going to be one of the best WrestleManias of all-time."

- Ryder said 2013 "can't be worse than 2012," which included the demise of his YouTube show. Ryder said he believes the show "changed the business" because WWE TV is "all about social media" now, especially considering that WWE promoted a "Social Media Smackdown" episode on Friday.

"WWE came to me and said, 'We want to move this to our YouTube channel,' Ryder recalled. "I was really hesitant to do it and I should have said no. That was the end of the Z! True Long Island Story in my opinion right there when I made that switch to the WWE YouTube channel at around episode 51. The fans just assumed I sold out, when I was still doing all the work and putting it on their channel and they instantly turned on it. Then WWE was editing it and taking things out, even though they said they weren't going to touch it. Then it just became a job and not fun. For the most part the last 50 were horrible, but the first 50 changed the business."

Ryder acknowledged "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as one prominent star in WWE who told him in the beginning not to worry about what management might think about his YouTube show. Austin, whose famous King of the Ring 1996 promo set up one of the hottest runs in wrestling history, told Ryder to "keep pressing buttons," according to Ryder.

"I thought there was a chance I would get fired over some of the things I was saying. I just didn't care. Steve Austin was one of the guys in the beginning who told me, 'Hey that was great and keep it going and keep pressing buttons. Get your voice out there.' Steve was a huge help," Ryder said.

"I knew this show had to take off or I was going to be fired. One or the other. It was going to either help my career or get me fired. It got me noticed. It helped my career. I don't regret doing it at all."

[ FYI: Busted Open airs on Sirius 92, XM 208, and Sports Zone on the Internet and on their App. ]

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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