WrestleMania 28: Why Zack Ryder's Downfall Will Continue in 12-Man Tag Match

A couple months ago Zack Ryder was one of the WWE's fastest rising stars and it seemed like there was nothing that could stop him. Now, with WrestleMania just a few days away, he appears destined to keep sliding back down the mid-card ladder.

Ryder rose to fame thanks to his YouTube show, Z! True Long Island Story, which gained him a large fan base outside of the mainstream audience. Chants of “We want Ryder!” could be heard, surely leaving less-savvy members of the WWE Universe to wonder who Ryder actually was.

Slowly, but surely, he was able to gain momentum. The amount of crowd reaction he received, especially with his “Woo! Woo! Woo!” chant before delivering the broski boot, was better than most established stars in the company.

He also started to move a lot of merchandise, which he constantly pushed on his show, and it wasn't long until the creative team took notice.

Ryder became United States champion by defeating Dolph Ziggler at TLC. At that point he was on track to be the next big superstar. All of his hard work was finally starting to pay off and it was great to see somebody new getting a chance to shine.

Since then, however, it's been all downhill. Less than one month after winning the title, he dropped it to Jack Swagger and has been selling injuries ever since.

It's curious as to why the WWE would destroy Ryder's momentum by throwing him into a meaningless storyline with John Cena, Kane and Eve. But that's exactly what happened and now he's struggling to get back on track.

He recently returned to weekly television, earning a spot on Team Teddy. He hasn't been given a strong build leading up to WrestleMania and that likely means his struggles will continue in what I expect will be a Team Johnny victory.

Sooner or later the company should start listening to the fans by giving Ryder a chance to prove himself at the mid-card level before an even bigger push.

As for now, the Ryder Revolution is on hold.