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* AuthorsSavingThrow: After Eve became a KarmaHoudini for how she manipulated Zack and humiliated him at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 28'', she ended up getting something resembling a comeuppance months later on a special live Smackdown - where in a food fight segment, Zack accidentally poured punch all over her, capping off a HumiliationConga for her.



* TheWoobie: Oh dear god yes with the whole Kane, Cena and Eve situation.

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* TheWoobie: Oh dear god yes with the whole Kane, Cena and Eve situation.situation.
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Dork Age was renamed


* AudienceAlienatingEra: The 2012 period where he was completely buried after his title win, made to look bad in a storyline with Eve Torres and was either rarely seen or jobbing. ''The Baltimore Sun'' even described the comparison between 2011 and 2012 as...
--> "The 2011 calendar year was a dream for Ryder... But 2012 was a nightmare..."



* DorkAge: The 2012 period where he was completely buried after his title win, made to look bad in a storyline with Eve Torres and was either rarely seen or jobbing. ''The Baltimore Sun'' even described the comparison between 2011 and 2012 as...
--> "The 2011 calendar year was a dream for Ryder... But 2012 was a nightmare..."
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* AuthorsSavingThrow: After Eve became a KarmaHoudini for how she manipulated Zack and humiliated him at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 28'', she ended up getting something resembling a comeuppance months later on a special live Smackdown - where in a food fight segment, Zack accidentally poured punch all over her, capping off a HumiliationConga for her.
* BadassDecay:
** In late 2011, he started to get a single's push, even having an arc of him trying to win the United States Championship. 2012? He's lost the title and becoming TheChewToy and ButtMonkey in the Cena/Kane feud. The only way in which he looked good was that he demostrated to be able to absorb a ''whole lot'' of damage. To put it in perspective, that time he was TheChewToy? Kane had to attack him for a ''single month'' before Ryder was put on a stretcher. That's right ''a whole month''.
** Averted on ''[=WrestleMania=] 32'', where he came away as the Intercontinental Champion, having to face 6 other superstars, including the likes of Wrestling/KevinOwens, Wrestling/SamiZayn, and Wrestling/DolphZiggler. Against all odds, he was the one who came away with the title, standing victorious atop that ladder. Subverted as he lost the championship the very next day.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: It seems that either you love Zack Ryder and want to see him on television in a prominent spot, or you wonder what the heck the big deal is with him, and whether everyone who likes him has lost their minds. There is no middle ground.
** As Matt Cardona, he recently became one again after defeating Wrestling/NickGage in Gage's signature deathmatch and becoming GCW Champion. Detractors didn't like it that a former mainstream WWE stooge came in and took the title from a folk hero like Gage, while other at least respect Cardona for actually fighting through a deathmatch and bleeding buckets for the win.
* BreakupBreakout: With his former tag partner, Curt Hawkins. Ryder's gone from jobber to United States Champion and top fan favorite in less than a year. The high point of Hawkins' post-Edge career was getting squashed by Wrestling/BrodusClay in Clay's "Funkasaurus" debut. Even applied after Ryder was demoted to extra again at the beginning of 2012, as by June 2014 Hawkins was released.
* DorkAge: The 2012 period where he was completely buried after his title win, made to look bad in a storyline with Eve Torres and was either rarely seen or jobbing. ''The Baltimore Sun'' even described the comparison between 2011 and 2012 as...
--> "The 2011 calendar year was a dream for Ryder... But 2012 was a nightmare..."
* EnsembleDarkhorse: He was more over than ''John Cena'' in 2011 despite him only being a midcarder.
* FashionVictimVillain: His outfit is awful...ly hilarious.
* FridgeBrilliance: For his various title wins, why does it usually take him multiple wins (especially on a character that's suppose to be rising quickly up the ranks)? It's to show off/reinforce his newfound {{Determinator}}[=/=]TookALevelInBadass nature and how Zack's success is not the result of the company but him simply doing his hardest to succeed as the [[PluckyComicRelief Plucky Underdog!]]
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Back at ''[=WrestleMania=] X'', [[Wrestling/ScottHall Razor Ramon]] wins the Intercontinental Championship, and even took a picture with a young Ryder. Fast-forward 22 years later, at ''[=WrestleMania=] 32'', Ryder finally wins the Intercontinental Championship, and even had took another picture with Razor Ramon, with Ryder as champion.
* HilariousInHindsight: The ''entire'' time Zack Ryder was the "Assistant to the General Manager" of ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackdown SmackDown]]'', he branded himself (much to Teddy Long's annoyance) as the ''"Assistant General Manager"'' (i.e. Teddy's number two and presumptive successor). On 7-13-2012, he actually ''was'' the General Manager of [=SmackDown=] for a day.
* OlderThanTheyThink: Most people think that his current gimmick started when he first appeared on ECW in 2009. However, the first time he portrayed this character was on Wrestling/JohnMorrison and Wrestling/TheMiz's online show ''The Dirt Sheet'' months before the 2009 draft, with Curt Hawkins acting as a StraightMan. Justified in that the gimmick wasn't fully developed during those ''Dirt Sheet'' segments. He didn't have the new theme or the spiked short hair yet.
* TearJerker:
** Watching the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Kane on the 1/23/12 ''Raw'' is just painful, and seeing him stretchered off after being chokeslammed right through the stage is what makes it qualify as this. ''Then'' it got ''worse''. He's somehow alive by the ''Royal Rumble'' but Kane just takes the time to tombstone him in front of Eve. Damn it, just when you think [[EarnYourHappyEnding Ryder was on top of the world]], [[BreakTheCutie something horrible has to happen to him]]. The night he comes back from ''that'', [[WhatTheHellHero Cena kisses Eve after saving her and Zack sees it]]. Then after he comes out to confront Cena instead of letting him talk about [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], Kane pushes him off the stage. The following week, Eve outright admits [[BitchInSheepsClothing she used him]].
** His career following his late 2011 push. For all the momentum he had going, he ended up being used to give Wrestling/JohnCena something to do before his eventual match with The Rock and propel Eve as a super heel. Save for a few ThrowTheDogABone moments, he's been relegated to jobber status.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** Went into the match where Wrestling/JackSwagger defeated him for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-us-h.html WWE United States Championship]] on the January 16, 2012 ''Raw'' with taped ribs, lasting a little over 2 minutes. The opportunity to elevate him from goof to tough guy was ''right there,'' and they didn't take it.
** There were reportedly plans to bring {{Wrestling/Layla}} back from injury to team with Zack and face Eve Torres and someone else (possibly Jack Swagger since he'd defeated him for the title) in a mixed tag at ''[=WrestleMania=] 28''. This was ultimately abandoned for the sake of putting all the people involved (minus Layla) into the Team Teddy vs Team Johnny tag match, leading to Eve getting one over on Zack ''again'' by costing him the match - and never getting any comeuppance for her actions. A mixed tag would have allowed Zack to properly get revenge on Eve, also setting Layla up nicely as a face on her return (as it happened, she won the belt off Nikki Bella on her first match back and did nothing of note for the next six months).
** Ryder was an incredible underdog going into ''[=WrestleMania=] 32'', and he came away with the Intercontinental Championship. The very next day on ''Raw'', the Dallas crowd was totally behind Ryder, chanting "You deserve it!" And yet... 24 hours after his historic moment, he loses the championship to the Miz, then loses his rematch the following ''[=SmackDown=]''. After all the emotion, he doesn't even keep the title for a day, effectively making the biggest upset in ''[=WrestleMania=] 32'' all for nothing.[[note]]To be fair, he wasn't ''supposed'' to win the belt- the other six guys in the match pressured the writers into giving him a [=WrestleMania=] moment, with Miz presumably being the one who was supposed to win it in the first place, so Ryder losing the belt to him the next night was just getting the story back on track, while adding more heat to the Miz's character by having him spoil Ryder's victory.[[/note]]
* ToughActToFollow: ''WebVideo/ZTrueLongIslandStory'' is clearly this, as its follow up, ''Last [=ReZort=]'', only lasted two episodes and gained no traction, and though ''Z! True Comeback Story'' did better, it wasn't as strong as ZTLIS. For that matter, it was this to the rest of the roster, as various WWE wrestlers attempted to launch their own web series, but most of their attempts failed or were shut down by management, and it wasn't until ''WebVideo/UpUpDownDown'' that we got a successful one.
* TheWoobie: Oh dear god yes with the whole Kane, Cena and Eve situation.

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