WWE Should Take Its Time with Zack Ryder

Zack Ryder fans all over the country have probably been jumping for joy for the last week or so. 

After Ryder spent the first half of 2011 getting little to no TV time, he has slowly but surely been elevated up the card on Monday Night Raw. He got a victory over World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry—albeit a controversial one—on last week’s Raw, and he has finally become the No. 1 contender for Dolph Ziggler’s United States Championship. 

I have no problem with this whatsoever. 

Ryder has done what no other superstar in WWE history has been able to do, and that’s get himself noticed primarily through his own self-promotion on the Internet. It worked better than Ryder likely even thought it would, and he deserves to be rewarded for all of his hard work. 

That reward should be a run with the United States title. 

I know that WWE officials will want to capitalize on Ryder’s ever-increasing popularity and make him a huge focal point of Monday Night Raw, especially if his popularity keeps growing exponentially. But it’s absolutely imperative that the company takes its time with the man known as “Long Island Iced Z.” 

Why? Because the WWE doesn’t want to push Ryder to the top too quickly and then have him fail miserably. 

Thankfully, though, the creative team seems to be getting it right with Ryder and his feud with Ziggler for the United States Championship. Though I would argue that Ryder has been slightly overexposed at times, creative has done a great job building up to Ryder’s eventual US title win. 

Whereas the feud between Triple H and Kevin Nash seems to be dragging on for forever (in a terrible way), has anyone noticed that Ryder’s feud with Ziggler has been going on for roughly three months already? 

Not really. And it’s because the feud hasn’t been overdone. 

Ryder’s rivalry with Ziggler started all the way back in early September, but breaks in the feud—such as Ryder’s petition, Ziggler’s mini-feud with John Morrison or Ziggler looking to insert himself into the WWE Championship picture—have allowed it to play out slower and more naturally than the typical rushed feud we always see in the WWE. 

As a result, I’ve been waiting to see Ryder win the United States Championship, and the slow build will make that victory even more special when it eventually happens (likely at WWE TLC). 

For once, the WWE appears to understand that. 

There have been far too many times when the creative team has shoved someone down our throats or rushed their push, and it turned out to be a complete flop. Someone like Alberto Del Rio or even Mason Ryan comes to mind. 

You can’t force-feed us someone or push him because some WWE executive likes him, and then simply expect us to react to him. 

No, you have to build a guy up, and the term “build” implies a long and tedious process. It’s not something that simply happens overnight. 

Just look at Ryder as a prime example of this. 

He spent months upon months building himself up on the Internet before getting himself a firm spot on TV—now the WWE has spent just as many months expanding his TV role, and finally, the creative team has had his United States title feud with Ziggler go on for another few months. 

That’s exactly how the WWE should push every superstar from this point forward. You work hard, you earn your way up the WWE ladder, and then the chances of you failing at the top become much slimmer. 

The creative team has already taken its sweet time with pushing Ryder, and it must continue to do so if it wants him to become a top-tier baby face for the long term.