lightningspiral:

I would disagree for the simple reason that Zack Ryder himself is VERY internet savvy and pop culture savvy.  I think he might be zeroing in on a trend intentionally, and could have pitched the idea. 

I see your point, but I just don’t think Zack has that much pull with creative—this is the same company that didn’t consider pushing him until about 40 episodes into True Long Island Story, and then immediately put him in a wheelchair.

I can definitely imagine Zack will make friendzone references when he recaps these events on his own show, because he’s aware of internet pop culture and he has more creative freedom on TLIS.  But I think his angle was concocted by a bunch of older guys who think Zack is a geek and wanted to tell a story that they think appeals to geeks, without actually understanding very much about geeks.

I’d also like to put forth that from my observations, while pro wrestling has its own endemic misogyny…I don’t think that that misogyny is that far from the audience’s. 

Neither do I, but I think pro wrestling is less in the business of “We need to appeal to the misogynist demographic” as it is “We need to find fans who will appreciate our misogynist booking.”  They’re more interested in telling fans what to think than in listening to them, even when they happen to agree with the fans.