WWE News: Superstar wins first singles match on Raw in 1,204 days

What's the story?

Zack Ryder defeated Mike Kanellis in an eight-second match on the July 15 episode of WWE Raw to win his first singles encounter on the show in 1,204 days.

In case you didn't know…

Despite being pregnant, Maria Kanellis wanted to face Zack Ryder in a match on this week’s Raw because she felt that she had a better chance of winning than her unreliable husband, Mike Kanellis.

As it turned out, Mike went ahead with the match but failed spectacularly in his bid to prove his wife wrong, as Ryder ducked a clothesline before hitting the Rough Rider to pick up the victory in his hometown of Long Island, New York.

Although the former Hype Bro has enjoyed ‘WrestleMania moments’ throughout his career, most recently at WrestleMania 35 when he won the Raw Tag Team titles with Curt Hawkins, he has struggled to achieve regular success as a singles competitor.

The heart of the matter

One of the biggest moments of Zack Ryder’s career came at WrestleMania 32 in April 2016 when he won a seven-man ladder match to become the Intercontinental champion.

Six days prior to the event, he picked up a statement-making victory over Chris Jericho in a one-on-one match on the March 28 episode of Raw – a win which, up until this week’s Raw, was his most recent singles triumph on WWE’s flagship show.

It is worth noting that Ryder was a member of the SmackDown Live roster between July 2016 and April 2018, but he has still had opportunities to win singles matches on Raw in the 19 months that he has been part of the red brand’s roster since his last one-on-one win against Jericho.

What's next?

Only time will tell if Zack Ryder’s win was part of a renewed push or whether it was simply a one-off moment because he was in his hometown.

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