Zack Ryder's 10 Biggest Underdog Moments In WWE
2. Winning The United States Championship (TLC, 18 December 2011)
At the onset of 2011, Zack Ryder struggled to earn his way into wrestling a match on Raw. At the end of 2011, he was contending for the United States Championship against Dolph Ziggler on a WWE pay-per-view.
He failed to capture the star-spangled prize twice before when he and Ziggler did battle, but TLC was destined to be his night to shine. He was riding a wave of momentum in the weeks preceding the pay-per-view and had the entire WWE Universe behind him throughout the bout. But despite all that, it wasn't a foregone conclusion that he would take the title.
The stars seemingly aligned in Baltimore that night as Ryder overcame the obstacle of Vickie Guerrero at ringside and planted the bleached-blonde Superstar with a Rough Ryder to kick off his first and only reign (to date) with the U.S. title. It was a magical moment for not only Ryder and his faithful followers, but every underdog who has ever had the door slammed in their face time and time again.
The shot of Ryder's father emotional at ringside, going berserk during the championship celebration like he just had a heart attack validated the victory for The Long Island Iced Z. Not to mention it ushered in an era of change at that time with Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, fellow former independent stars who had dreams of one day making it big, also ending the event with gold around their waists.