Missed 3:16: A Curious Case Of Damien Sandow

If you’ve been following professional wrestling throughout the mid-late 00’s, one name that might ring a bell for a number of different reasons is Aaron “Idol” Stevens.

Stevens first appeared in WWE in 2003, where he lost a match to Raven on Sunday Night Heat. At that time, Stevens had only been in the business a couple years and got his foot in the door thanks to his association with Killer Kowalski and Boston’s Chaotic Wrestling. Still, WWE saw something in him at a young age and sent him down to Ohio Valley Wrestling to reinvent himself for the first of many times.

Along with stablemates Danny Inferno, Trudi DeNucci, and his mentor “Nova” Mike Bucci, Stevens formed the Jersey Shore Crew, which became one of OVW’s most over acts in the post-John Cena/Randy Orton/Batista/Brock Lesnar/Shelton Benjamin era. Unfortunately, the WWE creative team had other plans for Bucci (he would become fitness guru Simon Dean) and Stevens would be forced to find something else to do. In 2006, he and K.C. James formed a fledgling tag team as Michelle McCool’s “teacher’s pets.” However, the act failed to get over so Stevens was sent down to OVW for a second time.

After getting released in 2007, Stevens worked the independent circuit before being brought back into the fold by a now unaffiliated OVW in 2008. However, Stevens once again struggled to find his niche with the fans and began to search for work elsewhere. He would leave the country to wrestle in Carlos Colon’s World Wrestling Council for two years in Puerto Rico. It was there that he put on some extra muscle and showed that he can connect to a pro wrestling audience.

WWE, who had kept an eye on Stevens over the years signed him for a second time in 2010. In need of a new character, Stevens grew a big black beard, began to don pink trunks and started to call himself the “Intellectual Savior of the Masses.”

That’s right. After what can be described as a roller coaster of a career, Aaron Stevens eventually found his footing with a character that, albeit a bit of a throwback had a lot of potential to get over in a big way.

The new character’s name? Damien Sandow (or Mizdow depending on what you prefer).

Yet, with all the potential Damien Sandow had and still has, he has been unable to surpass the cesspool that is the present day midcard level. It should also be understood that the Damien Sandow-era of Stevens’ career has had several peaks and valleys of its own.

Coming out of the gate, many fans compared Sandow to “the Genius,” a character that Lanny Poffo played in the 80’s and 90’s. While some viewed the similarities as a positive, the more negative fans out there called the character “a Genius rip-off.”

I loved Sandow’s original character. He was pompous, arrogant and poignant with his words. He reminded me of a sharp tongued, yet self-centered sweater wearing honors English teacher at my high school.

Most importantly, the character displayed a trait that has been portrayed by some of the best bad guys in both wrestling and Hollywood: he believed his actions were inherently good. In other words, Sandow viewed himself as a hero as opposed to the villain. When bad guys intentionally try to be bad, it oft comes off looking phony, while Sandow’s methods seem completely organic.

His debut vignette on SmackDown was simple, yet well done and to the point. In a little over one minute’s time, you definitely get the gist of the character.

While the potential was there for Sandow to feud with fun babyfaces like Zack Ryder, R-Truth and even Sheamus, Sandow’s potential was somehow squandered by poor booking and creative was forced to take the character in a different direction.

Enter Team Rhodes Scholars.

As you might recall, Sandow formed an alliance with Cody Rhodes shortly after his debut in 2012. More than just a catchy name, the Rhodes Scholars had a memorable series of matches with Team Hell No and got over as a couple of traditional old school heels. Though an injury to Rhodes would put Sandow in limbo, the Rhodes Scholars reconvened in December of that year, but did so with significantly less momentum than they’d had earlier in the year.

For the next half year, the creative team failed to afford Sandow the opportunity he needed to get over, inserting him in a series of meaningless feuds with little payoff. Finally, Sandow’s opportunity had seemingly arrived at Money in the Bank, where he won the eponymous brief case guaranteeing him a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship.

Unfortunately, this proved problematic for the Enlightened One.

Sandow lost his cash-in opportunity to John Cena in one of the hottest openings of a RAW in recent history. From there Sandow went on a massive losing streak that ultimately led to him being stripped of the “Genius” gimmick. It seemed that the higher ups had soured on Sandow, which I struggled to understand given the potential everyone had seen in the character from the onset.

In an attempt to breath life into his career, Sandow became an impressionist comedy character, but not before delivering a well executed worked shoot promo during a Raw pre-show in 2014. In spite of how the promo showcased Sandow’s natural ability, creative failed to follow up on it and instead had Sandow impersonate the likes of Magneto, LeBron James, Paul Revere, Abraham Lincoln, Bruce Springsteen and many others.

As much of a waste of Sandow’s natural abilities as this gimmick was, it led to his next and arguably most fruitful run as the Miz’s stunt double.

If Alberto Del Rio had the worst babyface-run in the last 15 years, The Miz’s babyface-run that same year had to have been top five. After taking time off to film The Marine 4: Moving Target,
Miz returned as a narcissistic movie star. Soon after, Sandow became the Miz’s stunt double, or for all intents and purposes “lackey.”

At least that’s what the WWE creative team intended on happening.

Fans far and wide were heavily critical of WWE for putting Sandow in what appeared to be a very demeaning role. But Sandow, ever the creative thinker once again flashed his superstar potential, proving to be far more than just a lackey. He took the most literal interpretation of the stunt double roll, taking bumps for the Miz, yes, but also shadowing him at ringside, mimicking his entrance step-for-step and in real time, mimicking Miz’s promos word for word as Miz was delivering them.

It was a character so well contrived and executed that it got over in a big way fast. Though he couldn’t actually be considered a babyface due to his association with the Miz, between September 2014 and February 2015, the newly minted Damien Mizdow was getting among the best babyface pops on the the entire roster. He developed a connection with the WWE universe that he never had before.

People immediately began to ponder how Mizdow’s arrangement with the Miz would come to an end. Regardless of scenario, one thing was clear: this was the time for Damien Sandow to become the superstar we all knew he could be.

I had actually called for a Miz/Mizdow match at Wrestlemania where the loser would drop their gimmick. Instead, we got that match later in April, which, although decent was a match I thought deserved the biggest stage possible. If nothing else, it did the job of Sandow shedding the Miz’s skin after proving week in and week out that he could be a valuable contributor, if not a main event player.

Most importantly, he got the microphone. As a reward, he received the chance to tell fans watching around the world why Damien Sandow was here to stay. What we got was a decent, yet very real promo and one that I thought was going to cement Sandow as an upper-mid carder and possibly even set him up to win his first singles championship in the WWE, leaving him room to continue to rise amongst the ranks in the years to come.

Fast forward to the present day and none of these things have happened, not that it is surprising. Discourse has become the tragic theme of Damien Sandow’s career.

So what’s he been up to since his coming out promo? He only took on the gimmick of a Randy Savage impersonator, teaming with Curtis Axel’s Hulk Hogan caricature to form “the Meta Powers.” Originally thought to be a one time thing, the gimmick continued well past its shelf life but has thankfully come to a screeching halt thanks, in part to Hulk Hogan saying some not so nice things, forcing WWE to take the two characters off the table.

There may be hope for Sandow yet. He can talk as well as anyone on the roster. He doesn’t look like anybody else on the roster. At 6-foot-4, 247 pounds, he has formidable size. His skills on the microphone have never been better and he is excellent in the ring as evidenced by his “FCW 15” matches with Seth Rollins where he was actually given time to show what he can do.

Did I mention the guy can hold his own on the microphone? Back in the primitive days of the Damien Sandow character, WWE actually sent him to Comic Con to rag on “ignoramuses miscreants and naves” in what was quite the entertaining encounter.

Sandow has all attributes that should work in one’s favor, but his path to the present has been anything but conventional. For all we know he could be fired tomorrow. On the other hand, the creative team could be conspiring to make him next year’s Royal Rumble winner. Well, maybe not. The point is, it’s hard to say where he goes from here, though Mick Foley has declared next Monday 8/3 as #SandowAppreciationDay.

I think you could point to a number of moments in Sandow’s WWE run that fit the mold of the “3:16 Moment.” But the one that I think is most obvious is the promo he cut on the heels of his brief feud with the Miz. I thought the segment was good overall, but I would have made a couple alterations.

I would have liked to see Sandow talk about his goals. He mentions that he gained the respect of the fans and without it he wouldn’t be in the WWE. But now having that respect, what is he planning on doing with it?

Of course, I wouldn’t want to remove anything from the promo he cut. I felt that everything he said came from the heart and for 70 percent of all wrestling babyfaces that is the key to getting over. I would however omit one part of the segment and that is the Curtis Axel interference.

While the exchange was entertaining, Axel’s involvement in Sandow’s promo had lasting effects on Sandow’s immediate future. Just weeks following the segment, the Meta Powers were born thus shackling Sandow to comedy jobber obscurity. In addition, I am off the Curtis Axel hype train (if there ever was one). He would be a great hand in NXT due to his in-ring competence but he is also very boring. Boring wrestlers have no place on the main roster as that takes up TV time that could be afforded to someone who is more exciting. Interference wasn’t necessary to Sandow’s promo, but if they had to have someone come in and get a rub I would have rather them used someone like Adam Rose or Bo Dallas who, with a little direction can become something special themselves.

The other option for Sandow would have been to challenge to Miz to one more match, this time as himself. This would have given Sandow something to prove to himself and the fans, that Damien Sandow is every bit as exciting as Damien Mizdow. The payoff for Miz would have been minimal, but it’s also not as if Miz has done anything of note lately anyway. But if Damien Sandow, at that point playing himself showed that he could get over against the Miz without the “Mizdow” gimmick, I think WWE would have quickly realized that they may have lightning in a bottle with Sandow and pushed him properly.

A third option for Sandow, which could hypothetically have come after, or in place the final Miz match is a feud with the Authority. The story writes itself. Sandow, believing he doesn’t need a goofy gimmick to be entertaining resists the Authority’s attempts to turn him into something he’s not, thus catapulting him into the spotlight.

With SummerSlam right around the corner, Damien Sandow is still far from a lost cause. With Macho Mandow in the rearview mirror, a return to television is imminent. He has passed every test upper management has thrown at him with flying colors. He is an unselfish team player whose only concern is keeping the fans happy.

What the fans seem to want, however is Sandow towards the top of the card and I’m sure he will do everything in his power to make that happen. It all boils down to the light bulb switching on in upper management. They’re starting to see the value in Cesaro for what he can do in the ring. Damien Sandow is the “Cesaro” of the microphone in that it’s the one thing he does as well as anyone. How’s that for optimism?

“You’re Welcome” became a catchphrase of Sandow’s upon his debut, but I think “Thank You” is a little more appropo when we’re discussing his career. He is one hell of a talent and it will be a damn shame if he doesn’t get his due time in the sun.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The article was previously published incorrectly stating Alberto Del Rio as the champion Sandow cashed-in against. That error has been corrected above.

Wrestledelphia.com columnist Jack Goodwillie can be reached at . Follow him on Twitter at .