10 Radical Ideas To Save Zack Ryder

The company’s secondary singles title is up for grabs: either it’s been vacated, in which case the tournament is to crown a new champion, or there’s no clear challenger, in which case the tournament is to choose a number one contender.

Whatever the case, the story of this tournament, held on a combination of free television and pay-per-view style event, is that Ryder will not give up. He’s facing upper midcard nasties like Sheamus, like AJ Styles, like Kevin Owens, men who’re supposed to be better than him, and he just will not lie down.

Understand that this isn’t Ryder showing clean cut babyface fire. He’s angry, beard bristling with rage - he refuses to quit because whatever weird obsessive engine is driving him simply won’t allow him to stop.

And so he keeps getting up, and he keeps kicking out, and he keeps pulling out a victory at the last minute. As the tournament goes on, the story stops becoming about who will come out on top, and starts being about who on earth can put Zack Ryder down long enough for a referee to count to three.

It’s the Brawl For All (or a worked version), with Ryder in the Bart Gunn role. Eventually it comes down to Ryder and Cesaro, and Ryder finally makes the big man submit, Cesaro trapped in the crossface chickenwing for far, far too long.