10 Times Wrestling Fans Turned On Internet Darlings

Fickle, or stale?

Mr Kennedy SummerSlam 2007
WWE.com

*Professional wrestler endures slump in form, fails to do anything new or interesting for several years, has simply "molecules" in common with the performer who was once so over or promising*

r/SquaredCircle: "God, wrestling fans are so fickle! You liked him when was good!"

Dr. Dre told Kendrick Lamar that anybody can get it; the hard part is keeping it, motherf*cker. Staying over is hard, particularly within a system that functions to make getting over incredibly difficult. There are pratfalls everywhere.

Look out - there's Vince McMahon, and he's unscrewing a lightbulb and motioning you towards a darkened room. Oh no - there's a WWE creative writer, and he's asking you to repeat a key word over and over and over again because "the thick tw*t marks won't understand, otherwise". And oh man - there's a road agent, and he's telling you you don't know how to work, which is funny, because you're not convinced Billy Kidman wrestled like Randy Orton in 1998 WCW, but he's in the bubble just like you're in the bubble now. You're all Stamford Wives in a fundamentally broken system.

So good luck staying over, pal...

10. Damien Sandow

Mr Kennedy SummerSlam 2007
WWE

Damien Sandow was tremendous value as the Intellectual Saviour of the Masses; nobody likes to be told they are dumb, and Sandow was very good at telling people they were dumb.

He held the microphone like a glass of red, wore a delectably smug expression, and his entire disposition was perfectly affected in the way he executed his arsenal. With a classic, guaranteed heat-seeker of an act stripped of any problematic connotations, he was destined for a top heel run.

It didn't happen, of course, since the apparent genius couldn't work out when best to cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase. Christ, even Jack Swagger managed it, and he didn't even know how to unhook the f*cker.

Sandow was subsequently demoted following his burial, but retained the support of the crowd through the endearingly naff (but admirably committed) Damien Mizdow schtick and its much-needed comedic relief amid a period during which belief in real systemic change had started to erode. Sandow left as most WWE wrestlers do - as a squandered would-be megastar - in 2016.

He shored up in Impact Wresting, in which he was the Fonz to the Pipebomb's shark-jump. The hollow rhetoric wasn't substantiated - it was a disaster of a run - and for years, Aron Rex contrived to subvert the most ingrained narrative there is.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!