Bobby‘s pick: Rosa Mendes and Zack Ryder
Alright you guys, I went through a lot of options in my head before ultimately deciding on the following power couple. I originally had JTG and Alicia Fox pegged instantly of course because those two weeks were my everything… but unfortunately two weeks doesn’t give you much to write about, so I had to ultimately move on. As a strong second though, I selected the true lovebirds of ECW that rocked my world from late 2009 to early 2010… Zack Ryder and Rosa Mendes!
It all started when she was traded from Raw to ECW. She became enticed by Zack, who pretty much got obsessed with her. Does anyone remember those cheesy… amazing Hall of Fame-worthy backstage segments where we would see his dream sequences of them rubbing noses, skipping and holding hands? If not, click here right now and witness one of the greatest segments your eyes have ever seen.
And you guys, unlike all my other couples, they weren’t abruptly broken up… oh wait, they were. But they DID take part in the main event of the final episode of ECW before it was replaced by NXT. It was Christian competing against Ezekiel Jackson for the rebranded ECW championship, but that didn’t stop Zack from running down to try and take Christian out. Unfortunately, he was destroyed by a flapjack to a trash can, but like every good man, there was a good woman behind him and into the ring came Rosa.
Rosa tried to verbally lash out at Christian, although that didn’t set well with general manager Tiffany, who ran out and speared the living daylights out of Mendes. They got the final ECW chant of the entire series, as Zack and Rosa were moved to Raw and quietly split up like just about every couple I enjoy. Since this fateful duo met its demise, Zack has went on to have a successful YouTube show and carry the United States title, while Rosa became the manager of Primo & Epico and got to walk down the aisle at WrestleMania 28 as she salsa’d them to victory.
…Yes, unfortunately, I did have to stretch to find worthy post Ryder/Rosa accomplishments, and it’s unfortunate because for as much crap as Rosa Mendes gets said about her by a lot of fans, she is a darn good manager who deserves to be utilized like she was on ECW. Alright, it’s true, I may not be a big fan of her blonde hair at the moment, but she knows how to make each act she manages stand out without taking the attention away from them. She did it for Zack, she did it for Primo & Epico… she just gets how to do it right.
As for Zack, he doesn’t really resonate with me as much as he used to. And I know that’s a common feeling amongst fans, but that’s okay, because he still gave us one half of the Ryder/Rosa era and for that I will always be grateful.
