Well, this seems to be about six months too late.

We see clips of Ryder doing his internet thing. Many o' catchphrase was born.

Christian vs. Zack Ryder (7/28/09).
Christian is hot off winning the title from Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer comes out and congratulates him on his win but says ECW GM Tiffany is giving him a rematch under Extreme Rules. Ryder interrupts and promises to defeat Christian here tonight. Christian slaps Ryder in the face and outwrestles him on the mat early. Ryder sends him into the buckle for a Bret Bump to turn the tide. Christian comes back with a sunset flip off the top for two. Ryder ducks to the floor where Christian springboards onto him. Back in, Ryder hits a superplex and locks in a bearhug. Seriously, bro?! He tries another superplex, and Christian knocks him back to the canvas. Christian gets two off a crossbody. Zack goes for the Zack Attack, but Christian snapmares him over. The slingshot kick sets up a back elbow and the Killswitch for Christian. He picks up the win at 12:02. Surprisingly competitive, and Ryder looked like he belonged in the Raw midcard at this point. Of course, it would take two more years for that to happen. ***1/4

Nothing happened for two years of Ryder's life outside of him absorbing Jersey Shore the same way Howard Hughes obsessively watched Ice Station Zebra.

Zack Ryder (w/Hugh Jackman) vs. Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero – 9/19/11).
Jackman is there to hype his goofy (but fun) movie Real Steel. Jackman to have in your corner: Wolverine Hugh Jackman. Jackman not to have in your corner: Tony-Award Winning Hugh Jackman. Ziggler smacks Ryder around, but he keeps getting distracted by Jackman. Ryder and Ziggler clothesline each other. The ref catches Vickie slapping Ryder in the face and tosses her. With the ref distracted, Jackman suckerpunches Ziggler. That sets up the Rough Ryder (legline) at 3:07. *

John Cena & Zack Ryder vs. The Miz & R-Truth (11/7/11).
Truth dressed up as the Ghostface killer from Scream and attacked Cena during his match with the Miz, so we get this. Cena dominates both Truth and Miz, but the fans chant for Ryder. Cena finally agrees after a minute or two of jawing with Truth. Ryder tags in and tosses Truth as we go to commercial. We return to Ryder armdragging Miz around the ring and hitting a missile dropkick. Cena winds up as the face-in-peril to extend the match. Ryder gets the hot tag, and they hit double facewashes on the heels. Ryder misses the Rough Ryder and now he's the face-in-peril. He tries to power to Cena, but Miz yanks him back and gives him the Sydal clothesline in the corner. More chinlockery from Truth. Cena gets the hot tag this time, and the faces do the double you-can't-see-me thing. Truth tosses Ryder, while Miz slips out of the Attitude Adjustment and boots Cena in the face. Truth holds onto Cena's legs, and the heels pick up the win at 14:26. Well, they really had to win or else there would be no point to the Survivor Series main event. Ryder held his own, but he was an also-ran in this match. **1/2

John Cena vs. Zack Ryder (12/5/11).
John Laurinaitis pitted these two against each other for kicks and giggles. If Cena wins, he gets a WWE Title match. If Ryder wins, he gets a U.S. Title match. They wrestle to a standstill early, and Ryder hits a missile dropkick. The Rough Ryder misses, and Cena goes into his usual. He misses a corner charge, though, and gets his face washed. Ryder sets up for the Rough Ryder… and has to wait… forever. I think this exposed his finisher as problematic. Ryder charges in, but Cena counters to an Attitude Adjustment at 6:46. Later, in a moment that made Cena more interesting than he'd been in years, Cena shows what a genuinely decent guy he is and gives up his TLC title shot so Ryder could get his title match. Of course, this all made Ryder look like that much more of a putz who couldn't get it done on his own. If they weren't going to have Cena at the PPV anyway, why not have him put Ryder over? **1/4

Randy Orton & Zack Ryder vs. Wade Barrett & Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero - 12/16/11).
Ziggler plays heel-in-peril early as Cole rips on Ryder not having won any titles. Hey, they're actually talking about the titles as if they mean something. Imagine that! We go to commercial and come back to Dolph still taking a beating. Wade gets the blind tag and jumps Randy from behind to take over. Ziggler adds some offense with the jumping elbow, but Orton fights back against Wade and gets the hot tag to Ryder. Ryder facewashes Barrett, but Barrett shrugs off his Rough Ryder attempt. Ziggler nails Ryder to take over and puts him in the half-crab. Wade comes in to finish off Ryder with the Wasteland, but Ryder counters to a DDT. Hot tag to Orton. Orton cleans house and hits the RKO on Ziggler at 11:35. Nice ending as Barrett could have made the save, but Orton stared him down. Basically the same as the Cena/Ryder vs. Awesome Truth match, only Ziggler is more awesome. **3/4

U.S. Title: Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Zack Ryder (12/18/11).
Ryder is the feel-good story of the year: the guy who got over on his own, without help from the WWE machine. In reality, Ryder's push is the equivalent of the marketing campaign for Paranormal Activity. "It's the film they don't want you to see! Take to the internet and demand it come to your city." In fact, I'm pretty sure Zack Ryder is having the push that was supposed to go to Scotty Goldman. That may sound cynical, but it's quite the opposite. I'm glad the audience can drop all their insider pretensions and get behind someone. They do a nifty little run-the-ropes sequence early on. If they don't get over huge, it won't be due to lack of athleticism. Ziggler busts out an Angleslam at one point, but Ryder battles back with a missile dropkick and Broski Boot (facewash). Vickie saves the title by putting Ziggler's foot on the ropes. That earns her a one-way ticket to the locker room. Well, I guess it would be roundtrip since she came from the locker room, but you know what I mean. The Fameasser misses, and Ryder rolls him up for two. Dolph hits it moments later for two of his own. Ryder blocks the Zig Zag but runs into a dropkick. These guys give good dropkick. Dolph takes too long going up and gets huracanranad off the top. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Dolph tosses him into the buckle to block the Rough Ryder and gets two off a schoolboy. Sizable "Let's go Ryder" chant. Ziggler charges blindly into the corner and eats knees. That leads to the Rough Ryder and a big title victory for Ryder at 10:23. Hey, they treated the U.S. Title like it meant something and people actually responded like it did. Whodathunkit? Zack celebrates with his dad in a nice moment. ***1/2

Zack Ryder is indicative of why Vince rarely listens to the internet long-term. As soon as it was clear that Zack was having the rug pulled out from under him, the internet fans who had been clamoring for his push abandoned him like rats from a sinking ship with rationalizations of "Well, his gimmick doesn't have staying power" and "He's not that good in the ring." If the net fans are that fickle, there's no point in pushing anyone other than who the WWE already have their hearts set on.

As for Ryder himself, he certainly seemed to have everything going for him, and I've heard no explanation for his rapid descent from "future Hall of Famer" to the WWE's version of Det. Nordberg. Just Vince being Vince, I guess.