Your first (non-colorfully worded) reaction might be "You are a moron, that was a stupid decision!"

Taking a step back and looking at the big picture, it may have been a genius move.

Disclosure: I probably repeated and contradicted myself, feel free to call me out on it, if I'm mistaken on my 'facts' anywhere, also feel free to correct me.

Reason 1: They want Morrison to resign long-term

WWE has been known to cater to a star that's about to leave to try and get them to resign: (CM Punk)

Your reaction might be “Well why didn't they just give him the title then?”
Well obviously, he's not signed, so they aren't going to let him win the title unless he negotiated it as part of his contract. They instead used this as a chance to get Morrison to reconsider by showing reaction from the crowd (positive or negative), to showcase his talent and bribe him with a PPV paycheck. Despite the fallout about Wrestlemania, they'd rather keep him than let him go to TNA, and wouldn't have signed him for Survivor Series otherwise.

Reason 2: Zack Ryder vs Dolph Ziggler at MSG in NYC was a Lose-Lose

Zack Wins
Pros: Popular Star wins Title, New York City crowd reaction
Cons: Predictable, Buries Ziggler, No other Heel Contenders for US Title

Ziggler Wins
Pros: Ziggler keeps his title and remains pushed
Cons: Complete Burial for Zack Ryder

Both:
Story lines halt to a grind

Reason 3: Increases Prestige of the US Title

Despite holding the title since June 19th, 2011, Ziggler has only had 3 title defenses prior to this PPV:
Kofi (rematch clause), Fatal Four Way (Riley, Swagger, Morrison) and Zack Ryder. No matter how you slice it, 3 defenses is pretty lousy for a 5 month reign. This was also the exact thing that people in the IWC buried Miz for during his US Title runs.

Defeating John Morrison increases the prestige of the belt by defeating a former IC champ and adding another PPV win and superstar feud victor to Ziggler's reign.

Reason 4: It helps Zack Ryder

To use a quote from Paul Heyman recently about SCSA. SCSA rejected the ECW title because it gave his character more to complain about and builds him up more for a better push so that when he finally won it, it would go over better for the entire product. Obviously SCSA moved on before this occurred, but SCSA recognized timing of a title change can improve/bury a storyline/character.

Zack Ryder is billed as the Internet Champion. While this is partially a self-promoted thing by Zack Ryder, it also doubles as the fact something that Morrison himself alluded to in Z! TLIS recently: Morrison used to be the internet Golden Child, and that moniker is now on Zack Ryder (and CM Punk, but that's not relevant). Cena and Mysterio have been called underdogs, and leaving the obvious jokes/comments aside, Ryder is the real ultimate underdog. He is the man who self made his own push and probably saved his job by doing it.

A US Title victory is the climax of this self-push.

Similar to CM Punk winning at MITB, it's going to be hard to keep the momentum for Zack Ryder this high. While his post-US Title win momentum isn't going to crash and burn, it is going to lull considerably afterward unless creatives pulls an epic feud out of their butts.

Reason 5: Horrible timing for Ziggler

I mentioned earlier that timing is critical. CM Punk's match with Del Rio (while being fairly fun) has been described as ill-timed and a result of every other star being busy. (To be honest I think Team Punk vs Team Del Rio/Funk Man would have been better in terms of story lines, but that's a different matter)

General Issues:
Top Heels: Miz, R-Truth, Del Rio, Ziggler
Top Faces: CM Punk, Cena

Ziggler doesn't have too many people to feud with to start with.

If Ziggler lost in November:

If Ziggler lost to Ryder, the rematch would definitely be on Raw (Ryder vs Ziggler on 3 straight PPVs wouldn't happen), leaving him with open spots until the Royal Rumble. With no other top faces to feud with at the moment (as CM Punk is busy with Del Rio and Cena is busy with Miz/Truth), he's going to look back at the Tag Team Division again with Swagger. Since the Division is on hiatus (and needs at least a month post-Bourne Suspension) the timing would be awful for the division and Ziggler. While a face-turn for Swagger is coming, it's still too early for that and the mini-feud with Ziggler that would occur and would do no one any favors.

If Ziggler loses in December:

One month makes a huge difference. First is that you can stretch out the feuds with Mason Ryan and Ryder to keep them on auto-pilot, and of course the rematch would again be done on Raw, but the story lines open up from this point.

The Tag Team Titles should be up and running again and a second attempt with Swagger should be fairly obvious. Win or Lose, a 4-8 week story with Air Boom and Swagger-Fall out, will get you to the Royal Rumble and/or Elimination Chamber where a World/WWE Title may be possible.

Reason #6: Morrison vs Ryder?

This one is obviously contingent on Morrison resigning, but Morrison vs Ryder just screams obvious and the hints on WWE's part are there. I don't think I have to really go into details here.

Conclusion:
Obviously all of that is contingent on Ryder winning in the near future, but the decision to put Morrison in over Ryder was a smarter long term decision. The short term feel good moment would have been nice, but putting long term good business is always the correct decision.

Questions, Comments, Am I just a moron?