WWE: Why Zack Ryder Is in a Perfect Place to Break out Again

The fall of Zack Ryder has been as baffling as that of any WWE superstar so far in 2012. 

Ryder spent the majority of 2011 working his way up the card, and it paid off when he won the United States Championship at WWE TLC in December and found himself in a main event angle alongside John Cena and Kane shortly thereafter. 

But, in a rather ironic twist, it was Ryder’s involvement in that rivalry between Kane and Cena that actually wound up setting him back considerably. 

Though Ryder was in a perfect position to break out and become one of the WWE’s top stars, he was just the latest superstar to fall victim to the creative team. 

He found himself getting buried by Kane (on more than occasion), and there was never any payoff for Long Island Iced Z from an angle he was involved in for several months. 

As a result—whether by design or default—Ryder’s stock plummeted so far that he took the pin for Teddy Long’s team at WrestleMania 28 and became nothing more than a glorified jobber. 

All of the momentum Ryder had built up in 2011 was gone by this point, and no one was sure he would ever get back to the level he had reached late last year. 

Yet, just a few weeks after he last jobbed, Ryder is in the perfect place to break out again. 

On last week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Ryder won the 20-man Great American Bash Battle Royal to become the interim general manager for this week’s SmackDown. 

Sadly, the spoilers for this week’s show reveal Ryder doesn’t really take advantage of this situation like he should have. 

At the very least, he should have given himself a chance to compete for a World title or make his way into the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder match, but he did neither of those things. 

Ideally, it will be revealed this Sunday that Ryder put himself into the MITB match to give himself a chance to rise back up the ranks, but I doubt the creative team will think that logically. 

Even though the WWE seemed to have missed a huge opportunity with Ryder this week, he’s still in a great spot to get back to the level he was at in 2011. 

The battle royal Ryder won on last week’s SmackDown was a star-studded affair that featured just about every big name in the WWE, including John Cena, CM Punk, Big Show and Daniel Bryan. 

Yet, it was Ryder who outlasted the 19 other superstars to emerge victorious. 

The reaction Ryder’s improbable win generated was incredible, as the crowd ate up the victory and loved to see him get the win after a recent string of losses. 

If there is anything Ryder’s win proved, it’s that—no matter how bad he’s been booked in 2012—he’s still more over than the majority of the babyfaces on the WWE roster. 

Someone has to notice that, right? 

This wasn’t a taped SmackDown where the cheers and chants for Ryder were piped in. This was a live show with a genuine reaction from the crowd, one that showed Ryder doesn’t even have to be on TV every week to keep his fan base. 

Though Ryder has gone weeks upon weeks at a time without appearing on Raw (and jobbing on the few appearances he had), all it took was one big win for him to get back on track. 

Give a guy (especially one who’s already pretty over) a nice victory like that, and good things are almost sure to come from it. Well, at least they should. 

The WWE has learned the hard way that you can’t book a guy strongly and just expect him to get over. After all, the company has failed big-time with this, especially recently with guys like Tensai. 

But recently, the superstars who get over and stay over are the ones who—even it’s a long and tedious process—will eventually be rewarded. 

Someone like Dolph Ziggler jobbed for a while earlier this year, but shortly thereafter he stepped up to become No. 1 contender for the World Heavyweight Champion and one of the favorites to win the briefcase this Sunday at Money in the Bank. 

Now, Ryder finds himself in a similar position. 

He’s been booked terribly for much of 2012, but like Ziggler, great fan reaction could dictate where he spends the rest of the year. 

Most of us fully expect Ziggler to be a borderline main-eventer or bona fide one for the foreseeable future, and though this has a lot to do with how phenomenal a wrestler he is, you would be lying to yourself if you said fan reaction didn’t play a role in his recent push. 

If the fans react to a guy (face or heel), chances are he’s going to get elevated. 

It’s happened a couple of times in 2012 with guys like Ziggler and Daniel Bryan. 

If the WWE keeps that up, then Zack Ryder should be next.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.