WWE Over the Limit 2012 Results: Kane Defeats Zack Ryder

Since getting destroyed by Kane several months ago, Zack Ryder's once-promising push in the WWE has taken a turn for the worst. Now, after being fed to Kane in a losing effort, yet again, on the Over the Limit pre-show, it's tough to see where Long Island Iced Z goes from here.

Ryder had been toiling on Superstars and in dark matches, but thanks to the popularity of his Internet show Z! True Long Island Story, he was able to get noticed by the WWE brass and began to appear regularly on Raw and even started to win matches.

Ryder's push culminated in a win over Dolph Ziggler for the United States Championship, and it looked like he was destined for great things. Not long after that, however, Ryder was kayfabe injured by Kane, and then, lost his title to Jack Swagger. Since then, he has been buried by Kane on a few other occasions and has essentially returned to jobber status.

He hasn't been seen on Raw in a couple weeks, he lost to Dean Ambrose in a dark match, and he teamed with Santino to lose to the awful pairing of Darren Young and Titus O'Neil on SmackDown. With all of that in mind, this loss to Kane is just the latest in a precipitous fall from grace.

It's really hard to say why Ryder has been demoted from his lofty spot so suddenly because he's still very much over with the crowd. It seems as though Ryder was the sacrificial lamb in an effort to give Kane some credibility when he returned as a monster heel, but all of that was for naught as he lost to John Cena anyway.

Kane is at a point in his career where he doesn't need to be squashing good, young talent. At 27 years of age, Ryder still has a ton of potential, but this loss is only going to push him further down the card. His popularity was at an all-time high, but now, he's basically back to square one and will have to build himself back up.

As for Kane, he scored a big win over Randy Orton at WrestleMania, but ultimately, lost that feud and lost to Cena as well, so it isn't as if he has much going for him. Kane will likely just move onto another higher-level face only to lose again, so this win over Ryder will be long forgotten whereas a Ryder win would have been a major boost.

It seems like no matter what Ryder does and no matter how hard he tries, he just can't gain any permanent traction. His gimmick doesn't really lend itself to the main event, but he can most definitely be a solid midcarder in the United States and Intercontinental Championship hunt on a regular basis.

If Ryder fans were bummed before, this YouTube loss to Kane most definitely doesn't help matters. Now, Ryder is going to have to pick up the pieces and go back to work if he wants to return to relevancy.

For more Wrestling talk, listen to Ring Rust Radio with WWE legend John Bradshaw Layfield and WCW star Diamond Dallas Page. Don’t miss these amazing interviews!

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter

Listen to internet radio with RingRustRadio on Blog Talk Radio