10 Biggest WWE Creative Mistakes Of 2016
9. Zack Ryder's 5-Minute Push
Zack Ryder’s Intercontinental Title victory at WrestleMania 32 came out of nowhere. It was widely assumed that he’d been thrown into the traditional ladder match as a spot-filler, and that one of the match’s more celebrated stars - a Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn - would walk away with the gold.
Ryder had become irrelevant. He was barely being used on Raw and SmackDown, and when he showed-up, it was usually to lose. His popularity had peaked years ago, and for all intents and purposes, he’d become little more than Mojo Rawley’s NXT sidekick. He couldn’t possibly win, could he?
He did, and while the victory gave Ryder a heartwarming WrestleMania moment while celebrating with his did, the following night rendered it pointless. Ryder lost his Intercontinental Championship to The Miz just one night after winning it, and that was that. Zack received a handful of meaningless title shots in the aftermath, but he was never going to win, and the push was over.
It goes down as one of WWE’s most pointless moves this year. Zack’s big moment lost all meaning when he lost in front of his father on Raw, and he now finds himself treading water in SmackDown’s tag division. A waste of airtime for a performer who probably deserves better.