Damien Sandow. WTF?

[Anybody Thrilla]

What's the serious endgame here with this briefcase? He jobbed to Santino, for shit sake. Him cashing in now would be infinitely more surprising than Jack Swagger was when he did, I feel.

Your thoughts?

[Tazz Dan]

Yeah, WTF Sandow?!?

[Fignuts]

Sandow really sucks at pro wrestling. No idea how he won the case in the first place.

[Anybody Thrilla]

I like what Sandow brings. I'm just not sure how anything good can come from what's happening with him. I'd love to be surprised.

[Bad News Gertner]

Love me some Sandow. He needs a feud badly. He's just kinda treading water.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>He'll eventually cash in and start beating all the guys he's been jobbing to the past several months. Just further proof wins and losses mean nothing.</font>

[The Condor]

This is eerily similar to Dolph's WHC quest. This is a short term bust with long term "potential." An April/May cash in seems likely, but right now with a heel champ there is not much for Sandow to do. His feud with Cody was entertaining last month though. It's just a matter of how much effort is given towards him and other guys in the mid card by creative and the writing team.

[Emperor Smeat]

He's following a similar path to almost everyone who has had the case or at least wasn't the first person cashing in when it became two cases per year. Orton didn't get the jobbing phase because he was the first and cashed in very quickly.

Only explanation for why they keep jobbing certain people with the case is probably as a test to see how they react and if they are really worthy of a big push with the title. Either that or the writers rarely have any long term plans for the second person so Sandow's next big push won't occur until he's ready to cash in.

[mike adamle]

I don't get that "jobbing them out to test to see how they react and if they're really worthy of a big push." Don't give them the briefcase if they haven't proved they're ready for it.

[mike adamle]

And by that I don't mean he has to win every match either, but losing to Santino is ridiculous unless Santino's about to go on another run like he did in 2012 which I doubt is happening.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

They have two briefcases now every year so they think they can take risks with one of them. A good theory that has kinda sucked in practice so far.

[Vastardikai]

Are they starting to bury Damien Sandow? :shifty:

[mike adamle]

They have two briefcases now every year so they think they can take risks with one of them. A good theory that has kinda sucked in practice so far.

If making the guy lose every match and then randomly cash in is taking a risk it's a terrible way of taking one and they just shouldn't bother. Why not make an interesting story with both cases instead of just giving up on one and giving the other everything story-wise. I just don't get what the point is to give Sandow the case and lose almost every match to people he wouldn't be losing to before, and then randomly cash in is. Especially if he loses the title fast.

[#1-norm-fan]

<font color=goldenrod>He'll eventually cash in and start beating all the guys he's been jobbing to the past several months. Just further proof wins and losses mean nothing.</font>

They mean something if you want guys to be credible and matches to mean something/keep you interested in the outcome. But clearly that's not a big priority.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

If making the guy lose every match and then randomly cash in is taking a risk it's a terrible way of taking one and they just shouldn't bother. Why not make an interesting story with both cases instead of just giving up on one and giving the other everything story-wise. I just don't get what the point is to give Sandow the case and lose almost every match to people he wouldn't be losing to before, and then randomly cash in is. Especially if he loses the title fast.

It creates instant contenders for when he wins the title. I don't agree with him losing any match to Santino unless they want to actually push Santino now that he is back.

I think they also do it to humble the person a little bit so they don't get a big head for being Money in the Bank. It's sort of obvious however that they didn't really think that hard on the World Title MITB or they would have had a face in the mix. I think they should have had Christian in the World Title one but they were throwing him a "you're in the main event" bone.

Dolph lost a few times before cashing in and it didn't make the moment any more awesome when he won. The reign was cut short due to the concussion but he had a few contenders lined up because of him losing a few times in the months leading up to winning the championship. It made Chris Jericho a contender and they had a few good matches on Smackdowns after Dolph won the title.

[JimmyMess]

It will be a big jump for him.

Was it not only a few months ago that he was being pedigree'd by Triple H between breaks on RAW and when the cameras were off for smackdown tapings?

Or was that just .... everyone

[scatterbrain28]

He'll eventually cash in and start beating all the guys he's been jobbing to the past several months. Just further proof wins and losses mean nothing.

Kinda like Bradshaw APA transforming into JBL. It suit him though.

[Juan]

Personally, I take wins and losses in WWE with a grain of salt. They've made it a point to book the undercard so that anyone can beat anyone on any given night, which I guess makes what with so much TV they produce every week.

[#1-norm-fan]

If wins and losses are meaningless, why should anyone care to watch matches period? And how often do people talk about how someone should get a win over Cena because it would put them over? Or how The Shield constantly winning was a big reason why their six man matches were so intense. The idea that winning/losing matches don't matter when building up a character is ridiculous.

[teamXtremist]

Is b actually surprised if he successfully cashed in his case .dudes in a serious funk

[Hanso Amore]

I dare anyone to find an instance pre 2000 where a potential champ waiting to take the next step has jobbed like this.

I don't need Sandow all over my screen and pinning cena. But to give him the case and keep having him cut promos saying he is the future champ then jobbing to santino is crazy. They used to protect the next big things....no Lesnar pun intended.

[Hanso Amore]

The closest I can think of is hbk winning the rumble, losing at mania, then feuding with dean Douglas for the ic title.

[Hanso Amore]

Actually I am misremembering he never lost to Douglas. So that doesn't count.

Imagine if after winning the kotr Austin or HHH jobbed to the godfather

[Blonde Moment]

Kind of wonder if he didn't piss someone off recently.

[Ultra Mantis]

WWE have this weird booking recently where they bring in a new guy as a big deal who will completely dominate matches and go undefeated for a bit, then as soon as he loses one match he suddenly starts jobbing all the time.

See: Sandow, Ryback, Brodus, Tensai, Sin Cara, Cesaro, Big E Langston

Having the MITB hasn't really ever got anyone a solid push except Miz, which is really ridiculous.

[#1-norm-fan]

WWE have this weird booking recently where they bring in a new guy as a big deal who will completely dominate matches and go undefeated for a bit, then as soon as he loses one match he suddenly starts jobbing all the time.

See: Sandow, Ryback, Brodus, Tensai, Sin Cara, Cesaro, Big E Langston

Seriously. It's like they have ADD. It takes a long stretch of consistently good booking to really put someone over as a legit star. They don't seem to be able to try for more than a few months before they forget about them and move on. It's insane. Especially with so many hours of TV that can be used to keep so many guys relevant at the same time. They seem like they have no focus whatsoever.

[Juan]

If wins and losses are meaningless, why should anyone care to watch matches period? And how often do people talk about how someone should get a win over Cena because it would put them over? Or how The Shield constantly winning was a big reason why their six man matches were so intense. The idea that winning/losing matches don't matter when building up a character is ridiculous.

I'm not saying YOU don't have to care about wins/losses. I'm just saying, I personally am not gonna lose any sleep over Sandow losing a bunch of matches. He'll cash in, I'll mark out.

[#1-norm-fan]

I'm not directing that to your personal feelings on Sandow losing. I'm talking about the idea that wins/losses don't matter in general.

Sandow cashing in would be kinda cool because Sandow is fantastic so him getting any kind of "moment" is good.. It would be better if winning the title was actually booked like something we should care about though. Having jobbers win it is not the way to do that. Especially when they're going out of their way to make it clear that this guy is shit before he gets the title.

[Lock Jaw]

Sandow should never have won the case to begin with. He is too much of a "midcard gimmick" to be anywhere near the World Title scene.

[Tazz Dan]

Exactly. RVD should have won it if it wasn't a 'heel' match.

[Vastardikai]

Sandow should never have won the case to begin with. He is too much of a "midcard gimmick" to be anywhere near the World Title scene.

The Genius 4.0 isn't main event material?

[Ultra Mantis]

The World Heavyweight Championship isn't main event material.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I get the theory behind Damien Sandow putting guys over while holding the briefcase. I also get that he needs credibility and to be built up if he is ever going to have a chance of being taken seriously as a heel threat. I wouldn't have put Santino Marella over him, and to be honest, I wouldn't have put him in matches against the likes of Rob Van Dam yet either.

If there were a pay-off to this "guys beat Sandow" thing, then I'd be more supportive of it. Maybe they could do a Battle Royal at one of these PPVs where Sandow has to defend his briefcase against every Superstar who has defeated him since he won the briefcase. RVD, Santino Marella, Christian and whoever else has beaten him are in there. Maybe Cody returns in this match and wins?

Something I was thinking of the other day:

I know Sandow's contract is only for the World Heavyweight Championship, but with Triple H (not so) subtly trying to make sure Bryan never gets to spend much time as WWE Champion, they could have Bryan win the WWE Title at Battleground and then have Sandow's music hit. He hands his briefcase over to the referee, who receives some orders from the back, and then tells Justin Roberts that the match is on and it is for the WWE Championship, which the announcers question given the nature of Sandow's contract. Sandow manages to beat the weakened Bryan and officially becomes the WWE Champion.

On RAW, Sandow and Triple H inform us that when they were doing up a new contract for Sandow, since Cody threw his in the Gulf of Mexico, they realized that Teddy Long had made a mistake in the wording. The contract actually states that the winner will receive a World Title match at any point in time a sanctioned official and the champion are present in a WWE ring; and not that it is specifically referring to the World Heavyweight Champion.

After beating Orton a few times, Bryan is going to need someone else to feud with and chase, and Sandow could be a different sort of adversary for Bryan. The matches would be quite fresh (I'm sure they've worked together, but I can't remember a PPV rivalry between the two), and Sandow could take on a "You could be a champion worthy of this company if you were just a little more like me" role, and essentially be the corporate suck-up that Daniel refuses to be.

It wouldn't be a long reign for Sandow, but winning the WWE Championship would do more for him now than winning the World Heavyweight Title, in my opinion. Sure, Sandow could go on a streak beating guys like RVD, Alberto Del Rio, Christian, Dolph Ziggler, Santino Marella, Chris Jericho and the liek, but being WWE Champion and getting his own title plates would make him look far more important.

[scatterbrain28]

Sandow should never have won the case to begin with. He is too much of a "midcard gimmick" to be anywhere near the World Title scene.

Anyone would make the same argument about Mankind back in 1997-98.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've also been thinking that Cody Rhodes could be the one to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Alberto Del Rio (as early as Hell in a Cell), and that Damien Sandow might cash in his briefcase on his former best friend. Their feud never really hit a "blow-off," and there is potential for a gimmick match between the two on PPV.