12 Ups And 15 Downs For WWE In 2016

10. Ryder’s Mania Moment

16 Zack Ryder Daddy WrestleMania 32
WWE.com

2016 did not end well for Zack Ryder, but the year did start off with a nice feel-good moment.

Inserted into an Intercontinental Championship ladder match at WrestleMania XXXII at the last minute, Ryder seemed like more of an afterthought, just there to get a Mania entrance and paycheck as a “thank you” for his dedication to the company. Instead, he got much more.

With the Miz on the verge of capturing his umpteenth IC title reign, Ryder raced up the ladder and shoved Miz off, pulling down the strap himself to leave WrestleMania as the Intercontinental Champion.

Sadly, Ryder’s title reign was purely transitional, as he lost the title the next night to the Miz (who would hold the IC title for much of 2016), but from a purely feel-good moment status, Ryder’s win delivered.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.