Could This Have Worked At Mania - Part 4 - WM28

[The Brain]

For this installment of my mania series we're going back to a more recent WrestleMania. Let's go back only three years to WM28. This time we'll visit the mid card instead of the main event. The proposed match is Zack Ryder vs. Kane.

Your first instinct may be to think this match is more suited for Main Event than WrestleMania but the right story can make a match work. If you were on this forum in 2011 you may remember Zack Ryder was a favorite around here. To be honest I was never a big fan of the guy but I saw why others liked him. I thought he had a good character but I always thought it was one meant for the low mid card even though so many others thought he should have been pushed to the moon. After a year or so of ignoring Ryder's developing following in late 2011/early 2012 it looked like he was finally going to get a shot. He won the US title at TLC and all of a sudden he was best buds with John Cena. With things going his way Ryder also tried to pursue a relationship with Eve. It looked like Ryder's dreams were finally starting to come true but those dreams would quickly turn into a nightmare.

In early 2012 Kane returned from a brief hiatus and targeted John Cena. Kane attacked Ryder on several occasions just because he was Cena's friend. Eventually Kane cost Ryder his US title and nearly crippled him after a brutal attack. Eve told Ryder she just wanted to be friends and later shared an impulsive kiss with Cena while Ryder was being taken away in an ambulance after another Kane attack. Both Cena and Eve expressed immediate remorse and eventually Ryder forgave both of them but remained a target of Kane. Ryder had become an inspirational underdog that fans could relate to and they wanted to see him succeed more than ever. With all this going on during the road to WrestleMania I think Zack Ryder vs. Kane in a no holds barred match could have worked at WM28.

It's really a simple story, which often turn into the best stories. You have the beloved underdog standing up for himself against the psychotic monster in a match he has seemingly no chance to win. The way I see it is Ryder is just getting decimated which eventually brings Eve to the ring begging Kane for mercy. Kane turns his attention to Eve and slowly stalks her before grabbing her by the throat (or wrist if PG wouldn't allow a throat grab on a woman). This lights a fire under Ryder and he comes to life to save Eve. Since it's no holds barred Ryder can use chairs, trash cans, or anything else to neutralize Kane and eventually get the pin. After the match a beaten down Ryder looks at a teary eyed Eve and the two embrace, a la Randy Savage and Elizabeth at WM7, showing that they are now more than just friends. The crowd roars with approval and we have an emotional mania moment.

Why wouldn't it work? Well we are talking about Zack Ryder here. He ain't no Randy Savage and Eve ain't no Elizabeth. This is a low card guy that got a little attention for a couple weeks. It's hard to get a good spot on mania these days so I don't know that others would be pushed aside in favor of Ryder. In fact I know they wouldn't as it was Randy Orton that actually wrestled Kane at the event. I just think that match had no real feeling to it and it ended up falling flat. Obviously Orton was way higher in the pecking order than Ryder but the drama involved would have more than made up for the difference in star power. Again, I'm not a big Ryder supporter but I think the timing was right and the story was there to give him a mania moment.

What do you think? Could this match have worked at WM28 or was Ryder simply a filler guy not meant to get a solo shot at glory?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think one thing holding this back was Ryder's persona. Ryder has personality, he's a good looking young guy and he's pretty decent inside the ring. However, his Long Island Ice Z persona had started to go stale and fans had begun losing interest almost immediately after he won the United States Championship. Ryder was seen as a sometimes humorous but generally harmless comedy mid-carder that couldn't be taken seriously as a threat to someone that's been a 10+ year upper mid-card mainstay like Kane.

If WWE hadn't gone with the "broken vertebrae" angle but maybe with a less serious injury, maybe showing vignettes from Ryder each week and portraying him in a more serious and determined light, then MAYBE use the underdog aspect of the new scrappier, more determined Ryder to face Kane at WrestleMania. If it went over well, maybe it could be used as a launching pad to keep him as an established mid-card star.

 

[FarFromFine]

I like the idea. Just because he's a low-midcard guy doesn't mean they couldn't have used his storyline to give us that feel-good, emotional moment. I wasn't a big Ryder fan either but he was pretty over at the time. When Punk, Bryan, and Ryder were all in the ring posing with their titles it got a massive pop.

The story you propose would have been great television and delivered a well received payoff at the biggest PPV of the year so I'm all for it. I think of the low and midcard guys as the opening acts at a concert. That's what Ryder was for me. But, on occasion, a band in the opening act will come out with a big hit and then they go on tour themselves and start being the headliners. A strong storyline like the one by OP would have given Ryder a chance to elevate himself instead of losing all of the value he'd built for himself over the previous two years.

I know the arguments that will be made, "glass ceiling" "they don't want a guy like Ryder in the main event" "he's not good enough in the ring", but if we get hot for a guy in an angle why not push him until we realize for ourselves that he's no good and begin to turn on him then have a heel that needs heat come take him out for good? If the plan is to basically drop him from the roster anyway and down to house shows and main event then why don't you take advantage of the hot angle and make interesting TV for a while then have him get destroyed and say he's on main event and superstars because he never recovered from that attack.

Plus, at that point, Kane still had more value than he does today but he should have already been being used to put over up and coming guys like Ryder. I know Kane has made enormous contributions to WWE in his extended tenure; however, he is not a main event player any longer. His most recent success was with DB and the anger management vignettes. This is because it was comedy, it actually was funny, and Kane didn't have to be taken seriously. Most all of us like Kane but we don't take him seriously as a monster anymore.

 

[MC_Live]

It should have absolutely happened. Going with the broken back angle was one of the stupidest ideas WWE has had in a long time, and that's a long list. I just don't get how they couldn't see money in Ryder. He was so massively over, and his merch actually sold out on WWEshop.com. They should have given him a better chance, and I remember thinking at the time that Ryder should have faced Kane at Mania. It may not have been on anyone's top 10 list, but it would have been a good story making a good match that could have made Ryder a serious star. God forbid anyone get over and actually help WWE make money. If it's not a Vince creation, kill it. End of story. It's stupid, and this honestly shouldn't be a "This coulda happened" This match should be a "That did happen".

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

As Daniel Bryan would put it, YES!, YES!, YES!

Sure Zack Ryder isn't ever going to be a main eventer, but he can be a good midcard face in the same manner that Miz is almost destined to be a good midcard heel. I'd even have Ryder lose the match by having Eve come out and beg with Kane to stop the carnage. Honestly, Orton, whom Kane eventually faced, may be a bigger star but there was more soap opera-ish drama potential in this match.

This could have been Ryder's 60 seconds of Fame sort of thing.

 

[blindman]

I was kinda sad that he didn't even get to fight Kane it made Ryder look like a joke and destroyed all that work he did, then to make things worse WWE had him keep doing the internet show as if rubbing the shit in his face.

So yeah I think he should've got a match out the storyline he might've even been in NXT by now and given a chance to reinvent himself. Sorry If I went off topic