Zack Ryder's 5 Best WWE Moments

The poster boy for "untapped potential, and executive ignorance towards it" has to be Zack Ryder. Upon his ascent to the level of "cult favourite star of tomorrow" in 2011, Ryder looked to be just that - a star of tomorrow. Fans demanded him, popular wrestlers endorsed him, and the response to his appearances proved to be enormous.

Sadly, all of those high hopes in 2011 eventually gave way to sourness for his supporters in 2012. So haplessly was he booked that his exit theme following subsequent losses may as well have been the Curb Your Enthusiasm jingle.

Ryder was among several dozen WWE wrestlers and behind-the-scenes staffers who found themselves out of a job this past week, a sad coda to the gross misuse of a potentially-valuable star on the company's part. When his name was counted among the ongoing tally, the question arose once more - why did it have to go wrong for Long Island's native Broski?

Rather than dwell on the negatives, let's look back on the happier times. Here now, we recall Zack Ryder's top moments under the WWE banner.

The poster boy for "untapped potential, and executive ignorance towards it" has to be Zack Ryder. Upon his ascent to the level of "cult favourite star of tomorrow" in 2011, Ryder looked to be just that - a star of tomorrow. Fans demanded him, popular wrestlers endorsed him, and the response to his appearances proved to be enormous.

Sadly, all of those high hopes in 2011 eventually gave way to sourness for his supporters in 2012. So haplessly was he booked that his exit theme following subsequent losses may as well have been the Curb Your Enthusiasm jingle.

Ryder was among several dozen WWE wrestlers and behind-the-scenes staffers who found themselves out of a job this past week, a sad coda to the gross misuse of a potentially-valuable star on the company's part. When his name was counted among the ongoing tally, the question arose once more - why did it have to go wrong for Long Island's native Broski?

Rather than dwell on the negatives, let's look back on the happier times. Here now, we recall Zack Ryder's top moments under the WWE banner.

5. Becoming An Edgehead

His time spent with Curt Hawkins on the ECW brand as Brett and Brian Major flew extremely low beneath the radar, so much so that when the two were repackaged as sidekicks of Edge on SmackDown late in 2007, it may as well been the debut of both men.

The two officially earned the Ryder and Hawkins names at this point, and were constantly visible alongside World Heavyweight Champion Edge through the first half of 2008. Accomplishments from this time: a Tag Team title run, and an appearance in WrestleMania 24's main event.

4. The Rise Of Z! True Long Island Story

Before Being the Elite, Conrad Thompson's empire of podcasts, and all other popular grap-centric digital media, there was erstwhile undercarder Ryder, amassing a large following on account of his creativity, offbeat sense of humour, and understanding of pop culture.

Ryder had spent the previous two years aimlessly playing an overly-tanned party boy out of Jersey Shore, but Z! True Long Island Story showcased his true personality. Arguably, series' of its ilk that followed owe a little something to Ryder and his show's template.

3. Winning The US Title

We're all certainly missing crowd reactions at this point in time, but what we *really* miss are the thunderous reactions to big moments. And when Ryder took down Dolph Ziggler to capture the US title at the 2011 TLC pay-per-view, the fans in Baltimore came undone.

It was immediately after this event that Ryder took part in a photo-op with WWE's other titleholders, all of them youthful, and several of them internet darlings like he. The image signalled the changing of a guard to some, though that sadly proved to not be the case.

2. An Unexpected WrestleMania Moment

In the four years following the previous entry, Ryder had been stamped out like a small fire, and only the truly naive held onto hope of WWE ever rehabbing him. When he was thrown into the seven-way Ladder Match for the IC belt at WrestleMania 32, he seemed to just be fodder.

To the shock of everybody, Ryder won the belt, a genuine feelgood moment from a particularly-maligned WrestleMania. Ryder shoved a complacent Miz off the ladder in the final stage, and though he dropped the belt to Miz the next night, the moment was still nice.

1. Coming Full Circle With Hawkins

Ryder reverted back to lower-card occupancy after losing the IC belt, and remained there for three years. Old partner Hawkins was low on the caste system as well. Reunited once more, they shared Hawkins' long-lasting losing streak gimmick, and couldn't buy a win.

Then came WrestleMania 35, in the shadows of their old Long Island stomping grounds in East Rutherford, where the "Major Broskis" got one last triumph. On the evening's Kickoff show, Ryder and Hawkins briefly staved off their collective futility by upsetting The Revival to win Raw's Tag Team belts.