Zack Ryder Wins WWE Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 32

The Broski from Long Island has some gold once again, as Zack Ryder climbed the ladder and became the new WWE Intercontinental champion in a seven-man ladder match Sunday night at WrestleMania 32.

Ryder defeated Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Sin Cara, The Miz, Stardust and took the title away from now-former two-time champion Kevin Owens.  

The official Twitter account of WrestleMania captured the moment of Ryder winning the prestigious championship inside AT&T Stadium:

The match began at a high-octane pace with Owens and Zayn exchanging right hands in the middle of the ring. WWE Creative Humor put the humor aside for a moment to capture the moment:

The WWE Universe was treated to a few early bumps involving ladders. Stardust slammed Sin Cara onto the ladder, while Ryder reversed a Stardust suplex and countered with a neckbreaker on the ladder. Ryder came within inches of winning the Intercontinental title, but the master of the Rough Ryder was in for a rough landing, via the official WrestleMania Twitter account:

But the Dallas crowd was clearly behind Zayn, 48 hours removed from a potential Match of the Year candidate from NXT TakeOver: Dallas against Shinsuke Nakamura. He took out five competitors with a Diving Senton through a ladder and over the top rope. 

Zayn followed that up with his signature tornado DDT through the turnbuckle on the outside, via WWE:

The battle of seven turned into a battle of two with Zayn and Owens fighting near the middle of the ring. Zayn went for a Helluva Kick but misfired. That set the stage for Owens to land a Frog Splash from the top rope, taking Zayn out as well as the ladder, via WWE:

Owens came within inches of retaining the belt while battling with Zayn at the top of a ladder. However, Zayn pulled down Owens and landed a reverse suplex to him on the ladder, via WWE Universe, taking the champion out of the match:

Zayn seemed primed for his WrestleMania moment before Miz pushed him off the 10-foot ladder. Miz was close to grabbing the belt, but he took his time and pandered to the crowd. That allowed Ryder enough time to push Miz off, scatter up the ladder and grab the belt.

WWE Universe captured the moment of Ryder giving the WWE Universe a "Woo" chant with the belt in hand:

Just like last year's ladder match for the belt, this one was a great way to start the show, with each Superstar leaving a memorable mark in this match. Bleacher Report's Mike Chiari thought all held their own:

With the crowd clearly behind Owens and Zayn, it appeared the finish was to take place between those two rivals. However, this is a huge curveball with Ryder now holding the gold. It's a well-deserved moment for Ryder, who has been longing for a moment like this to catapult his career. But WWE missed a golden opportunity to book Owens for a lengthy title reign leading up to SummerSlam.

This should all but set up a match between Ryder and Owens for the belt at Extreme Rules on April 26, with some uncertainty to follow. It's unclear if this is a sign from WWE that it believes Ryder can carry his own in a 15-to-20-minute match with the likes of Owens. If the crowd is behind Ryder, though, that should help his cause.

In any case, Long Island Iced Z is wearing gold again, and the Dallas crowd was more than happy with the decision.

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