10 Wrestlers WWE Gave Up On Too Soon
2. Damien Sandow
The recently-released Damien Sandow is one of this list’s saddest inclusions. Have been in the WWE system from 2002 to 2007, Sandow returned to the company through Florida Championship Wrestling in 2010, and became a permanent fixture on the main roster with his Intellectual Savior of the Masses gimmick in 2012.
Natural on the microphone, a great character actor, and a skilled in-ring technician, Sandow quickly became one of WWE’s premier heels. His snooty intellectual act was hugely over with the crowd, and he was making giant leaps up the card whether working on his own, or alongside Cody Rhodes as one half of the Rhodes Scholars.
Sandow’s career looked to be heading for the stratosphere as he won the 2013 Money in the Bank briefcase, but his failed cash-in on John Cena started a long, slow decline. Taking on a grim impersonation gimmick, Sandow soon found himself hired as The Miz’s “stunt double.” Despite being lumbered with a gimmick that would kill most careers, “Damien Mizdow” was a gigantic hit.
Sandow became a hugely popular babyface against all odds, but his career floundered as soon as he and Miz split, and he was released this May.
Damien Sandow is the perfect example of a perfromer who took every idea that was thrown his way, good or bad, and made the most of them. WWE had a huge chance to push him as a top level babyface when his alliance with The Miz ended, but they opted not to, and thus concludes one of the biggest “missed opportunity” stories in wrestling history.