10 Exact Moments Great Wrestlers Jumped The Shark
Fingerpokes, handshakes, and literal burials.
Professional wrestling has always been a high turnover sport.
Performers are continually cycled in and out of the spotlight, and while some acts are immortal, most spend their careers in a constant state of flux. Main event pushes can begin and end in an instant, and there's no telling when the crowd will lose interest in a wrestler.
Wrestling fans are often painted as an impatient, demanding bunch, but this isn't always true. It generally takes a gargantuan effort for them to lose interest in beloved performers, as proven by the likes of Sami Zayn, who's still one of WWE's most popular stars after years of bad booking. Regardless, countless wrestlers have jumped the shark over the years, with most struggling to ever truly recover.
Some of these moments came at the end of prolonged periods of misery, while others nuked the wrestler's credibility, momentum and popularity with one single, decisive action. Either way, these specific points in time delivered immeasurable damage to the performers in question, and while many eventually rebuilt themselves, the majority are either still reeling from the damage, or have fallen out of the sport entirely.
10. Damien Sandow Gets Petulant
The way WWE handled Damien Sandow's post-Mizdow run was infuriating.
The former Mr. Money In The Bank came out of WrestleMania 31 with excellent momentum. He didn't win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but his long-awaited turn on The Miz drew a great pop, and the stage was set for an epic babyface push. Sadly, WWE decided to lumber one of their most charismatic, popular stars with the awful Macho Mandow gimmick, and his interest levels plummeted.
His specific shark-jumping moment came a few weeks after 'Mania, when Sandow engaged with Curtis Axel on Raw. He'd just finished cutting a textbook babyface 'fresh start' promo, but Axel's interruption seemed to pull a trigger inside Damien, and he transformed into the worst kind of WWE 'good guy.'
Having just distanced himself from his old impersonation gimmick, Damien petulantly mocked Axel, parroting his every world like an upset child would do. His reborn face run barely lasted five minutes, and by the time he was done, it was clear that Sandow wasn't going to embark on the push many expected following his split from The Miz. Great job, WWE...