Aaron Haddad, currently working as Damian Sandow on WWE television, is one of the companys great mysteries. Its a mystery how Sandow is still employed by WWE. Its also a mystery how hes not an upper midcard veteran with at least one Intercontinental or US title run on his CV. How can it be both? Haddad has been a WWE employee for most of the last thirteen years. In that time, he spent 2002 to 2006 in developmental at Ohio Valley Wrestling, then debuted on Smackdown in August 2006 as Idol Stevens in tag team performances while being managed by Michelle McCool, returning to OVW in December 2006 when she was written off TV with a legitimate injury. He was released from his contract in August 2007 and then carried on appearing for OVW anyway, being signed to a new developmental contract in July 2010, appearing for Florida Championship Wrestling. He finally debuted for the main roster for the second time, as Damian Sandow, in May 2012: a midcard heel role in which he was genuinely great. Hes won the tag team championships, and at one point the company thought enough of him to hand him a Money In The Bank briefcase, but they made him lose it to John Cena in a nothing match on RAW, and havent done anything much with him since. In the absence of any creative, this year Haddad managed to get himself over in the role of The Miz stunt double, to the extent that he was being cheered and chanted for over and above The Miz (and most of the rest of the roster) for a good couple of months. WWEs response to that was to capitalise on his success by running his feud with The Miz into the ground and then returning Haddad to bad impersonations of old school WWE legends. Its astonishing that someone that the company is so disinterested in has had a job for so long equally, Haddad can talk the hind legs off a donkey, has size and a good look, goes from good to great in the ring and is clearly able to form a connection with the crowd, so its also astonishing that the company cant think of what to do with him. This years worthless booking of a genuinely over act is yet another example of why fans dont think that Vince McMahon and the WWE know how to build stars anymore.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
