11 Popular WWE Stars John Cena Has Tried To 'Steal' Heat From

9. Damien Sandow

Before he went through an identity crisis impersonating Daniel Boone, Magneto and Vince McMahon, Damien Sandow was riding a wave of popularity as the Intellectual Savior of the Masses and one-half of the Rhodes Scholars. Although this popularity didn€™t translate to success in the ring, Sandow got a pretty good reaction from crowds, and he had good matches with most of his opponents. In late 2012, Sandow got a spotlight match against Cena, a 20-minute contest on Main Event that drew rave reviews. A month later, the Rhodes Scholars took on Cena and the Miz and lost. In hindsight, Sandow was still a rising midcard heel who would have benefited from winning some lower level feuds to go along with the heat he was getting, but instead he was elevated to battling Cena, then sent shuttling back down the card. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w194TbEEyhw While this probably wasn€™t intended to be Cena siphoning heat from Sandow, it didn€™t really help Damien €“ a quick defeat and no follow-up did nothing for his standing €“ but it gave Cena a midcard heel that antagonized him and his fans before getting beat. Sandow would get another shot at Cena in late 2013 when he cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase for a World Heavyweight Championship title shot, but that didn€™t go so well for him. After one early 2014 match against Cena, Sandow went down the card again and into his chameleon stage.