10 Incredibly Creative Ways WWE Stars Got Themselves Over
3. Damien Sandow Fell Down
Damien Sandow looked like a guy who was destined for the main event.
After re-debuting as Sandow (prior to that he was the forgettable Aron Stevens), he received a big push with his Savior of the Masses gimmick. He was chosen to be the foil for D-Generation X on Raw 1,000 in one of the most buzzed-about moments of the night. He even won the Money in the Bank contract. So many good things were happening. And then, he failed to cash in the briefcase and was completely sunk.
Sandow floundered around as a virtual jobber and was given the role of portraying other wrestlers and celebrities. It’s basically a gimmick that management gives wrestlers when they can think of absolutely nothing else for them, as Steve Richards, The Big Show, and Charlie Haas were all asked to play something similar in the past. None of them made it work. Sandow wasn’t faring much better until he was cast as The Miz’s stunt double for the night. Then he was cast again in the role. And again. Why?
Because he was so damn good at it.
Sandow wasn’t told what to do as Mizdow. Management didn’t put much thought into it. The wrestler decided on his own to start mimicking everything The Miz did, and it got over like crazy. After a few nights in the role, he spontaneously decided to fall down after Miz took a bump. The crowd popped. It quickly grew from there.
Sandow had such joy as a stunt double and was so entertaining at it that fans began to realize how vastly under-utilized he was. When Vince McMahon talked with him about it, he told him he could just keep on going with the mimicking and if it went too far they’d pull back. That was it.
Of course, fans know how it all ended. The company waited too long to have Sandow turn on Miz, they fought over starring in a commercial, and they never gave the stunt double his starring role. For a time, though, Sandow’s act was one of the most entertaining things going on in the company. He has himself to thank for that.