WWE: Could Zack Ryder One Day Be a World Champion?

Zack Ryder, along with being one of the most unique superstars in WWE, has had one of the most interesting rises to the main card that has ever been seen. Only a year ago he was virtually unknown to almost all WWE fans, yet today he is a fan favorite from the IWC to WWE's younger generation of fans. His popularity seems to be growing every week, so theoretically things could only get better from here. Does this mean that Zack Ryder will one day become a WWE or World Champion?

In 2007 Matthew Cardona made his debut in WWE for the ECW brand as Brett Major, but was quickly drafted over to the SmackDown where he made a quick impact with his teammate, Curt Hawkins, as an Edge impersonator, aiding Edge in his matches. He was repackaged as Zack Ryder and spent the next year as a member of La Familia, a stable that also featured Edge, Vickie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, Bam Neely and his tag team partner, Curt Hawkins.

As a member of La Familia, Ryder become one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions alongside Curt Hawkins, and the two became the youngest WWE Tag Team Champions ever, both being only 23 years old. They held the titles for just over two months, while La Familia began to fall apart and Ryder and Hawkins set out on their own.

In early 2009, Ryder was drafted back to ECW, splitting him from his tag team partner for the first time in his professional wrestling career. While on ECW, Ryder adopted the gimmick that he currently uses, and had several high profile matches, including an ECW championship match against Christian and a feud ending match with Tommy Dreamer in which Ryder won and forced Dreamer to leave ECW.

When the ECW brand ended in early 2010, Ryder was sent to Raw, but was featured much less than he was on SmackDown. He slowly began to appear less and less until the later part of 2010 and early parts of 2011, where he was only seen on WWE Superstars. It seemed like Zack Ryder was slowly becoming a disposable superstar that would eventually be released by WWE.

That's when Zack Ryder did something that no other superstar who is in danger of losing his job has ever done, he took a chance and put his future in his own hands.

In February of 2011, Zack Ryder started a weekly YouTube show entitled Z! True Long Island Story with what he said was "the intention to either get noticed, or get fired." Slowly but surely, Zack Ryder got noticed.

Ryder not only took to YouTube, but to Facebook and Twitter as well. His internet fan base began to grow and push for him to be featured on either SmackDown or Raw. Even John Cena began to promote Zack Ryder, encouraging fans to follow him on Twitter and continue with their support.

Ryder's support from the fans continued to grow, and the support from John Cena continued. Eventually, Ryder was seen backstage during episodes of Raw. Those appearances slowly turned into matches, and just earlier this month, on the November 7 episode of Raw, Zack Ryder teamed up with John Cena to take on R-Truth and The Miz in his first ever Raw Main Event match.

I was lucky enough to attend Raw the next week in Boston, and I couldn't believe the amount of support that Zack Ryder had throughout the entire building. The number of people wearing Ryder's "Broski" t-shirts rivaled the number of any other superstar's t-shirts in the building, except for John Cena—and yes, that's even including The Rock and CM Punk. After the event was over, we were set to be treated to a dark match with the team of The Miz, R-Truth, and Mark Henry facing off against John Cena, Randy Orton, and CM Punk. Before the match began, the crowd began chanting "We Want Ryder!" almost as loudly as they had been chanting for The Rock just moments before. CM Punk ran to the back and returned with Ryder.

After the match, Ryder thanked all of us, and said that his success is due to the support of all the fans. This made me think, when is the last time that the fans have backed a superstar from the verge of being released to a potential future champion? I can't ever remember a time.

So what does this mean for the future of Zack Ryder? Will he eventually grow to become a WWE Champion, or is he at the top of his game right now? It's all going to depend on the fans and whether or not they get tired of Ryder. But with the way Ryder has been able to connect with the fans thus far, it doesn't seem unreasonable that he would be able to adapt if the fans start to think that his gimmick is getting stale.

So do I think that Ryder will eventually become a WWE or World Champion? Absolutely, but not without some changes to his character, and of course, time.

There's no doubt that Zack Ryder is a fan favorite, but currently he doesn't have the tpye of gimmick that would allow him to be a World Champion. His gimmick, although funny and relevant with the fans, is still too crazy and somewhat cartoonish for him to be considered one of the top guys in the company.

It wouldn't take much for him to tone down his gimmick and lose the over-the-top theatrics when the time calls for him to change into a main eventer. He can keep the Long Island Iced Z gimmick, and just stop with the crazy backstage promo's, focusing on his in-ring abilities instead. Right now, it's the character that gets him over with the fans, but with time, a combination of character and in-ring performances can do the same.

He also wouldn't even need to stop with the Z True Long Island Story, only move it from YouTube to another media outlet, perhaps the new WWE Network. Imagine a WWE Champion who connected with the fans on a weekly basis, more than just tweeting from time to time. Not only would this continue to boost his popularity, but he would still be able to communicate effectively with the fans and stay on top of his character to prevent it from becoming stale.

Ryder also has time and age on his side. Right now he is only 26 years old, much younger than any other superstar that is on the rise as fast as him. Wade Barrett and Dolph Ziggler are 31, Alex Riley is 30, Sheamus is 33 and even Mason Ryan is 29. Only Cody Rhodes rivals him in the age category. Even if Ryder hits a snag at some point, he has the time to make a full recovery, and have a long and successful career in WWE.

But first things are first, Ryder needs to establish himself in the ring on a more consistent basis right now. He's been flirting with the United States Championship, and it could be only a matter of days or weeks before he wins his first WWE singles title—if Mason Ryan doesn't overshadow him at the moment. From there he can do what many other superstars have done and slowly work his way up the ladder, maybe with the help of a Money in the Bank or King of the Ring victory.

So don't expect it to happen in the next year, or even two, but with his determination, work ethic, and the response that he has received from both fans and other WWE superstars alike, I see a promising and World Championship filled future for the Long Island Iced Z, Zack Ryder.