Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins’ “Gratitude Era” continued on this week’s WWE RAW from Cleveland, but the more interesting happenings came after the show.
We noted back in the summer how Ryder and Hawkins had started tweeting about their “Gratitude Era” movement and encouraging fans to help them usher the new era in. Ryder told fans in July that this is an “era of turning the negatives into positives, an era of no more complaining, an era of showing gratitude.”
This week’s RAW saw Ryder and Hawkins lose a non-title match to RAW Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders, as seen in the video above. Below is post-show video of The Gratitude Era founders pushing the movement.
The interviewer asked them how it felt to take another loss, but Hawkins wasn’t trying to hear the negativity. Ryder went on about how they were announced in the 2019 WWE Draft picks that were revealed on The Bump.
“Come on man, a loss? Where’s your positivity, where’s your gratitude?,” Hawkins asked.
“Win or lose, never defeated,” Ryder proclaimed. “That’s on our shirt, man. Listen, it’s all about gratitude, OK? We got drafted to Monday Night RAW. We got drafted via The Bump. You didn’t see The Bump? The Bump should be paying us for this plug, bro.”
Hawkins continued, “We got sponsored by The Bump. That’s a pretty big deal. There’s some gratitude in that. I’m grateful for The Bump.”
“And I’m grateful we wrestled the RAW Tag Team Champions. We got a taste of The Vikings,” Ryder added.
“On Monday Night RAW. The longest running weekly episodic show in television history. We were on that tonight. Were you?,” Hawkins asked the interviewer. “No, your hand’s on dot-com now, that’s about it.”
“YouTube, also. And Facebook I’m sure. That’s three things. You should be grateful for that,” Ryder yelled at the interviewer.
Hawkins yelled, “That’s a lot of digital platforms that we’re going to be on!”
Ryder calmed Hawkins down and revealed their new nickname or catchphrase – The PPF.
“He should be grateful because he’s interviewing The PPF of the WWE,” Ryder said. “The Past, Present, and Future.”
Ryder and Hawkins then ended the segment with smiles.
The former RAW Tag Team Champions also had interesting comments on Twitter. Not only did they make their own comments, but they re-tweeted a post from the official WWE Universe account that asked where their pyro was this week.
Hawkins wrote, “No pyro this week. But maybe the next. Either way, @ZackRyder & I are full of #GRATITUDE each and every Monday on #RAW”
“OMG! @TheCurtHawkins & I talked…had an entrance…and wrestled the Tag Team Champions tonight on #Raw! SO GRATEFUL FOR THAT! #GratitudeEra,” Ryder added.
Ryder also re-tweeted a fan photo of the two former EdgeHeads in the ring and wrote, “GREAT PIC! I’m grateful that you posted it!”
There’s a lot of fan speculation on what the inspiration is for this new promo material from Ryder and Hawkins, with some guessing that this could be related to talks from WWE higher-ups.
You can see the related tweets and video below:
No pyro this week. But maybe the next. Either way, @ZackRyder & I are full of #GRATITUDE each and every Monday on #RAW
— Brian Myers (@Myers_Wrestling) October 22, 2019
OMG! @TheCurtHawkins & I talked…had an entrance…and wrestled the Tag Team Champions tonight on #Raw! SO GRATEFUL FOR THAT! #GratitudeEra
— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) October 22, 2019
WHERE'S THEIR PYRO?!#RAW @ZackRyder @TheCurtHawkins pic.twitter.com/UkuhB1ZkEb
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 22, 2019
GREAT PIC! I’m grateful that you posted it! https://t.co/NujciPayDE
— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) October 22, 2019