Last month, we gave special honors to Judy Bagwell for Mother’s Day and we mentioned that Mr. Ryder, Zack Ryder’s Dad, would get his day in the sun the next month. Well, the truth is that Mr. Ryder has been in the spotlight for a while now. Mr. Ryder has a Twitter Account. Mr. Ryder has a Fake Twitter Account! And Mr. Ryder consistently popped up and stole the show on Z! True Long Island Story, no easy feat considering that “The Show Stealer” Dolph Ziggler tried to the same almost every week. As a former Stuntman, Mr. Ryder had a cool job that kids wanted to hear about and even dream about doing. He probably sympathized heavily with Zack’s desire to be a pro-wrestler and encouraged it heavily. At the same time, Mr. Ryder does things that all Dads do, but with a Long Island twist:

• Mr. Ryder is immensely proud of his kid based on this WWE.com interview after Zack won the United States Championship.

• Mr. Ryder takes part in Zack’s world wholeheartedly.  On Zack Ryder’s episode of Colt Cabana’s The Art of Wrestling, CM Punk tells the story of meeting Mr. Ryder. Without giving too much away, it involves Mr. Ryder trying to turn Luke Gallows into Festus using a pot.

• At a recent Main Event / Smackdown taping, we saw fathers antagonize their kids by backing whoever their kids didn’t like. When Sheamus fought Antonio Cesaro, the kids cheered for Sheamus (they don’t know any better) and their Dads cheered for Cesaro. It’s a Wrestling rite of passage. Mr. Ryder did the same thing to Zack, except not at a house show or on national television. He did it Internet-ionally, proclaiming John Morrison his favorite Wrestler and himself a MoFo.