Damien Sandow's current gimmick is the wackest shit of all time.
 

He's literally playing the role of an annoying child. This can't be expected to get over, can it?

I thought it was more of a send off to his wacky stuff. We should be getting a ladder climbing personal Sandow now and it feels good. I could see him doing battle with Sheamus and BNB, kind of liven the midcard up a bit.

*I didn't watch SD! so I don't know, just gauging my response off RAW*

Did you watch Smackdown?

oh no, I didn't, I will watch the DVR this weekend. Is he going Santino on us?

Santino without the charm, really.

WWE has a knack for finding out that something is over and then taking all the fun out of it by pushing it in the wrong direction. So the fact that they watched Sandow get crazy over over the past few months and then took from that "Hey! We should have him do the Pee-Wee Herman copycat thing that kids did in the early 90's because that's exactly how he got over in the first place!" doesn't really surprise me.

Love his sweet new theme, though.

The "fued" he had with the Miz certainly didn't help. Guy was super over, him splitting from the Miz should have been a big moment.

Same could be said for Goldust and Stardust.

Neither feuds really led to anything.

Yea I'm loving hi theme feels like something from Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger

How can they be so oblivious all the fucking time? The Miz vs. Sandow could have been a PPV match. Can't believe they had the blowoff on Raw, and I don't exactly understand why Summer Rae had to be shoehorned into it either. Neither The Miz nor Sandow seem like they will benefit from any of it. Real shame.

Sandow's theme is boss, but so is Alex Riley's, so...

Yea I know a kickass theme does not a superstar make(it helps though)
and as for how they can be so oblivious VINCE McMahon

It's like Vince has a rule where anything that gets over more than it's "supposed" to must subsequently be turned into horseshit until everyone starts cheering for Roman Reigns.

Roman Reigns' matches have been quite good as of late. Even his match with Big Show at Extreme Rules was entertaining as hell.

Shame they pulled the trigger on him early really instead of only actually building him up after he was already in the main event of Wrestlemania.

I did not enjoy it. It was very bad.

I had a feeling this would happen. Mizdow was a great gimmick but it had zero shelf life and impossible to transition after his run with the Miz was done.

Yea this reverse build up is weird they are doing now what thy should've done to begin with he's still kinda boring though.

Yeah. I'd prefer they transition him to another character he could shine with instead of trying to so a form of the same gimmick that has none of the same charm and just wastes the guy. I hope once they see it's not working, they'll figure something else out. He could get over with a face version of the intellectual savior. That gimmick still had plenty of legs anyway.

Was really digging his promo on RAW until he started copying Axel

He should just become X-Pac full time. He was already "hired".

If this is the best they have for him just release him.

I hate to be "that guy", and I know they don't exactly have the best track record at all... but....

Come on. It has been literally one week. Let's see where he goes from here before damning him forever.

I gave up once his big break up feud with the Miz happened during repetitive Raw matches, which Summer Rae somehow got thrown into for no apparent reason.

She was thrown in because both she and Miz are in the Marine 46235135413

Die Harder Tomorrow: Merica

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N2ywDiQ5Nv8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Yeah I thought the best thing that could happen is Him and Miz get put in a fatal 4 way for the IC title, Miz getts superstar A in the figure 4. Mizdow follows suit with Superstar B. SuperStar B taps first.

How long until he's Reverend Sandow..oh certify my brother

With the (wake forest) Demon Deacon Finn Balor

Just had the thought of Damien Sandow doing Sean O'Haire's devil's advocate vignettes. Seems like he would be mind-blowingly good with that gimmick.

Sandow's version would end with "I'm not telling you anything that you already know"

Yes please. He could even continue the "You're Welcome" bit.

Always loved that gimmick, too bad it failed :(

If I thought he was bad before, he's abysmal now. Do any of you find this Mega Powers bullshit entertaining?

Yup.

He could be so much more than a jobber/silly gimmick but it is entertaining.

Meta Powers is a jobber gimmick that has taken all Sandow's momentum and somehow turned him into the guy who always eats the pin in a tag team with Curtis Axel.

well he makes axl entertaining and that is hard to do.

It's not even funny.

Axel was more entertaining when he was begging us not to change the channel. I was getting behind that.

Looking back, real talk, that promo he gave in street clothes was at least worthy of being in the IC title chase. What the hell, he is proven on the mic. Son of a bitch. He at least deserves to be a spearhead for a brand split and have an ADR World Title SD reign

It's not really any better than the stuff with Miz, might even be s step down, which a shame.

Even this is gone now.

<font color=goldenrod>Sandow is done. I don't see him ever getting past comedy relief status ever again.

They had a chance to make him something important after the breakup with Miz, but that ship has long since sailed.</font>

It definitely didn't help that he lost his feud with The Miz, and then The Miz promptly disappeared to film a movie.

<font color=goldenrod>He should have worked with Miz to eliminate Big Show in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and then do the proper face turn/elimination of Miz afterwards.

Big Show didn't need the win in the least.</font>

Of course he did. It's currently doing wonders for him. :shifty:

Big shows post andre the Giant battle royal win W/L Record is a lot better than Barrets post KOTR win W/L Record.

yeah he better join swagger and rusev and go to dest amarica wed nights

Look. I don't think he's hilarious or anything, but I do occasionally get a chuckle from watching The 'Meta-Powers' or whatever they're called.

Now, I know some will probably disagree wity me here, but IMHO, it's kind of like when Jay Lethal had the "Black Machismo" gimmick, only Mandow has Axel to play Hogan to his Savage. It's not nearly as awesome as tge Black Machismo gimmick, but let's not shun these guys just yet.

Also, it will almost certainly never happen, but I'd love to see the Axe msn team up with Foley and call themselves "Axel Foley" or "Axel 'F'". :shifty:

I thought the bullshit with Mizdow was overrated. Sandow shouldn't have been in that situation. I've never been the biggest mark for him, but his heel stuff on SmackDown was quite entertaining. His character evolved and I remember actually laughing out loud when he told the chess-playing computer to "Silence!" during his feud with Sheamus. In a good way -- not in a "this is ridiculously bad way." I don't think he should have won Money in the Bank, but when he did, he should have cashed it in successfully. He should have beaten Cena, had a trial run, then could have dropped the title back to Cena, to Del Rio in a Triple Threat with Cena at Survivor Series '13 or even to Cody Rhodes.

But even after he lost, there was progress to be had. The embarrassment of the smartest man in the room being trumped by John Cena. Sandow's mind was goaded into losing, and that should have sent him around the bend. Not in the way they had him do when he wrestled with different gimmicks each week; but he should have gotten a nasty streak and sold the fine line between genius and insanity. It should have made him more of a heel, as he turned up the intensity.

But the Miz stuff entertained people. But then Sandow did something very stupid. He tossed Miz before he went after Big Show. Why did this guy suddenly become an idiot? Was it pride? He had been a goofy sidekick for so long -- where was his pride then?

After the Miz break-up, they had a real good shot at making Sandow a worthy babyface. Not their top star, but someone they could put on a poster with a few other guys occasionally, and use to fill Elimination Chambers and Money in the Bank Ladder Matches. An upper mid-card/main event flirt. I think they rushed The Miz stuff. Miz should have ducked Sandow more. "I'd love to fight you tonight, Sandow, but I'm filming a movie, and I can't risk breaking my knuckles on your face. But here's your opponenet..."

At Extreme Rules, instead of putting Big Show against Roman Reings (and that match was good), they should have had Sandow want to prove himself again to Big Show. "I know I can beat you." Have Sandow try and get into Show's head and talk about how he's his own man now, whilst Show is still a stunt double for The Authority. Sandow wouldn't even need to win that match. Just show some heart, some guts, and as he is making a comeback, The Miz pops up and costs Sandow any momentum he had. Not a "cost him the win" sort of thing (Show isn't in any immediate danger), but Sandow is hindered.

They gave him a kick-ass theme, he proved he could cut a humble promo that explained it all away, and now he is doing everything he got away from again. He actually comes off like a liar, and it seems more intended to sabotage his momentum and give Vince chuckles more than anything.

Curtis Axel is a trickier case. I'm happy he has a job and is showing some personality, but not at the sacrifice of his own. The Axelmania stuff actually got Axel out of NXT early because it gave him something to do. Let him do it. Let him actually beat some guys and let him actually build momentum. Maybe Axelmania could have become a legitimately fine mid-card thing? The delusion of his personality could have even led to some big moments for him. It certainly gave him more time to work on the mic, which he desperately needs.

Yeah, I definitely agree that Sandow should've had a trial main event championship run. Inexplicable that they didn't. If he didn't get over as a heel main event champ, would it really have been so hard to hotshot the title off him like they did with Dolph? That was precedent for such situations, IMO.

Also agree that entertaining as it is, Axel playing at being a Hogan parody has been done to death, although in WWE's execs' minds, fans aren't supposed to remember Eugene or when Charlie Haas did a few weeks on RAW doing tributes to legendary superstars. There's too many other examples to cite them all, but, yeah, let's drop the "#AxelMania" thing, make him into a solid mid-card guy. Maybe he could even challenge Cena in a US Championship open match. Not saying he's anywhere near ready to win it, but if you're going to waste this guy's talent without giving him a fucking chance to be a solid mid-carder again, release him.

Well let us not forget that you are also somewhat certifiably retarded. No offense.

Black Machismo at least sounds like Savage. This is a mockery, and Sandow should be embarrassed. Axel's Hogan is very far off the mark as well. It's straight up garbage through and through.

Agreed. If they wanted a gimmick as a tribute to Savage they should have tried to get Jay Lethal or not done it at all. I can't believe Hogan agrees with this but the fact that he has managed to keep his mouth shut about this tells me he does agree, until the fans really get rabid.

Thing that baffles me about this is that its not like any of this is getting over with the audience at all. Its flat and played out, and nothing screams that these guys are geeks with no personality more than the impersonation act, and thats a shame in Sandows case because he was a solid midcard heel. I think hes always had a ceiling on him, but dooming him to opening match comedy for life is weak. Even his babyface promo on Raw where he was himself exposed how the crowd didnt truly give a shit, they just laughed at the comedy.

It felt like the Mizdow turn momentum was lost weeks before Mania anyway, to be honest.

It was all down to the way they turned him. It was meek and had no build and was very flat. On a preshow, at the wrong moment, with no heat or followup.

It could have been an intense feud with heat that built up Sandow as someone who could do it alone, but there was literally no effort put into it and it was lost on a throwaway moment.

Hate to he so negative, but it is that laziness that tipifies their booking

Hogan probably pitched it so people would grow tired of Axelmania and Hulkamania returns to kill it in a warm up match to Hogans last at WM.

I realky hope he beats the Ascension. Those fellows are dastardly!

Yeah, it seems that way but I think Sandow can recover with the right marketing