Smackdown Spoilers for 5/16/14

[odessasteps]

Are we also saying he stunk as AaronThe Idol Stevens?

[Overly Critical Man]

Damien Sandow somehow found a way to have worse offense than Dolph Ziggler. That's amazing in itself.

[Matt D]

[Tromatagon]

Man when reading the initial challenge I was hoping it'd be Little Johnny as Brays pick doing some Raimu spots

[Skeeball Wizard]

I think everyone is forgetting Sandow as he was when he first started the gimmick. He was different than anyone on the roster, he spoke differently , had a different approach, it was refreshing. So they took away his robe, his mic time and gave him black trunks. He is just generic now. His offense does suck, but let's not all act like he was never good.I think with the right changes he could be a major player.

[Brian Fowler]

I hated him then too.

[Hagan]

I think Sandow is a good promo and he's a pretty effective mid-card heel who can both be obnoxious and funny. His Russian Leg Sweep is really good. 

 

Putting him, Ziggler and Miz as a pissed off 3-man unit being managed by Alicia Fox could be pretty good. They can all cut really obnoxious promos and then fly around the ring selling shit. Works for me. 

[Victator]

 

 

Once again, the answer to "who did Sandow piss off?" is me, by being terrible.

How is he terrible? You might not like him, but at worst he is good.

His gimmick is terrible. His promos are terrible. His ring when is terrible. He's a guy with a bad gimmick, who cuts bad promos, and has bad matches. That is terrible.

 

How is his ring work terrible?

[Jenalysis]

It isn't.  It's just not good.  

 

Sandow did have an interesting character to start, but he lost it, so now he's pretty much someone who is just filler.

 

Having him team with Ziggler or the Miz might be best for him right now- Miz and Sandow in particular I could see meshing- Miz is really this gen's Stan Lane- average ring guy who does well in tags.

[Spritenaut 32]

Aaron "The Idol" Stevens looked like a can't-miss star when he was in OVW years ago.  Of course, so did a lot of other guys and most of them failed when they got the call-up.  I'm guessing the x-factor was Paul Heyman (Heyman was booking OVW at the time).

 

I like Sandow.  I thought he'd have a decent run in the midcard, but, unfortunately, it's an era where the company is stacked with talent and midcarders are mostly useless to them.

 

Remember when there were rumors Sandow had become a Triple H guy and they were going to strap the rocket to him back?  Crazzzyyyy.  Meltzer even said the company was thinking about having Sandow win the Royal Rumble.  Lol.

[piranesi]

Is the issue that his character had nothing to do with his ring work?  Like, Lanny Poffo when he was the genius would play up his cleverness as sneakiness in ways that actually won matches and screwed over opponents.  Sandow just said a bunch of geniusey stuff but then wrestled like a regular guy and lost.

 

It seems like part of the running joke of Sandow is that he's actually very dumb.  He takes dumb challenges, gets himself stupidly into situations where he is overmatched, has no plan to compensate, underestimates every opponent.  As a comedy character that has potential. But as a wrestling character it can't work for very long...because of all the losing and lack of intrigue.

[Curt McGirt]

Sandow is entertaining (the belt in the river thing was great, his promos are total snark) but yeah, they castrated his character. He is no great shakes in the ring so he deserves a partner, but at the same time there is no room on the roster for more tag talent. Take in mind he showed up right before the Shield and Wyatts did and the huge tag explosion happened. Now he's got squeezed out and Barrett stole his gimmick of the obnoxious guy and is getting over because he's so much more of an ass-kicker. Shit happens, I guess.

[Curt McGirt]

Hmmm, piranesi makes some good points there.

 

EDIT: Oh man, fantasy booking, him and the delusional R-Truth would kill it. Just like Truth made the Miz look like somebody, those two could be a crazy heel team. But I haven't the slightest who they would feud with. Kofi and Mark, at this point?

[piranesi]

Essentialy Sandow thinks he's:

 

 

and actually is:

 

[Ace]

Aaron "The Idol" Stevens looked like a can't-miss star when he was in OVW years ago.  

 

How much of that was due to Beth and Shelly?

 

[Greggulator]

Sandow's a fun character but thinking they "ruined" or "castrated" him is a bit much. He's a very entertaining mid-card act and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. He had a really great match with John Cena, but who can't have a great match with John Cena?

I do think, though, Sandow's a great demarcation line for what we're seeing with the new "paradigm shift" (a phrase he would no doubt use) in character work. Even though he's not a NXT alum, he did come up right after they got REALLY serious with the training program. He really wrestles well as his character. Like was said earlier, after him came The Shield and The Wyatts and those guys -- they do the same, but are more talented. That's not that Sandow's a scrub -- far from it -- but those guys are next level talents and he's just solid.

But I'd rather watch him than almost everyone else at his level on the card. Get the bland dudes out and get guys who can at least have funny segments or goofball matches in.

There are only so many guys who can be at the top of the card. Not making it there isn't always because of some Machiavellian writer's room ploy.

[Overly Critical Man]

Sandow's better off going back to being Bad Santa at this point. Or changing his character to being the douchebag that threatens to cancel popular holidays.

[odessasteps]

My problem with Sandow's gimmick is that he felt like someone who used big words inorganically, like he looked them up in the dictionary to sound smart but felt artifical.

So yeah, as pointed above, Kevin Kline in Wanda.

[cwoy2j]

Sandow's a fun character but thinking they "ruined" or "castrated" him is a bit much. He's a very entertaining mid-card act and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. He had a really great match with John Cena, but who can't have a great match with John Cena?

I do think, though, Sandow's a great demarcation line for what we're seeing with the new "paradigm shift" (a phrase he would no doubt use) in character work. Even though he's not a NXT alum, he did come up right after they got REALLY serious with the training program. He really wrestles well as his character. Like was said earlier, after him came The Shield and The Wyatts and those guys -- they do the same, but are more talented. That's not that Sandow's a scrub -- far from it -- but those guys are next level talents and he's just solid.

But I'd rather watch him than almost everyone else at his level on the card. Get the bland dudes out and get guys who can at least have funny segments or goofball matches in.

There are only so many guys who can be at the top of the card. Not making it there isn't always because of some Machiavellian writer's room ploy.

 

I agree with this. I don't think he was ever a main event guy but not everyone is. I saw him at a house show a little while ago. He wrestled a decent match against Sheamus. Then post-match he drew a bunch of heat doing mic work, just doing basic insults and then people popped when Big Show walked (or lumbered) down to the ring and knocked him out. Kids went apeshit and most of the adults were reasonably entertained. He wrestled a good match and people popped when he got further comeuppance for being an arrogant jerk. If that's the guy's ceiling than so be it. Not everyone is being held down or buried.

[SolidGoldBomb]

Is the issue that his character had nothing to do with his ring work?  Like, Lanny Poffo when he was the genius would play up his cleverness as sneakiness in ways that actually won matches and screwed over opponents.  Sandow just said a bunch of geniusey stuff but then wrestled like a regular guy and lost.

 

It seems like part of the running joke of Sandow is that he's actually very dumb.  He takes dumb challenges, gets himself stupidly into situations where he is overmatched, has no plan to compensate, underestimates every opponent.  As a comedy character that has potential. But as a wrestling character it can't work for very long...because of all the losing and lack of intrigue.

 

 

I think everyone is forgetting Sandow as he was when he first started the gimmick. He was different than anyone on the roster, he spoke differently , had a different approach, it was refreshing. So they took away his robe, his mic time and gave him black trunks. He is just generic now. His offense does suck, but let's not all act like he was never good.I think with the right changes he could be a major player.

 

I've thought this for a while, and that is precisely how he should be used, as a Genius 2.0

 

This new direction they are taking him where he's just another Generic Angry Wrestler is the problem.  He should drop all the RAGE and ANGER and just be more cocky and arrogant, but in a clever funny way like the Genius was.  It ruins his character as an intellectual when all he does is huff and puff and then get beat up, he needs to be outsmarting people....or at least trying to and failing.  He needs to be winning matches by count out, using foreign objects, distracting the ref, or have a protege who is assisting him with winning.  Have him catch his opponent in a bear trap backstage before their match.  Show him pouring ex-lax in his opponent's coffee.  Show him slashing his opponent's tires at a gas station before he makes it to the arena...just something different and clever!  He's still great on the mic, and needs to be able to make fun of people in the audience and do more of the challenges and tests that he was doing with the audience when he debuted.  Just make fun of stupid people!  And like was said, give him his pink trunks back, give him a robe again, give him a curly mustache....something unique.  He can only work with what they give him though, so it's simply bad writing for him right now.

 

Basically book him like this guy

 

or this guy

[ebbie]

Can Aksana be the Muttley?

[piranesi]

Technically in terms of win/loss record they are booking him like D. Dastardly.

[piranesi]

I mean they are booking him like the character named dastardly.  Not that they are booking him in a dastardly fashion.

 

Now Ryder they booked dastardly.

[Craig H]

I'd rather that Sandow join the Wyatt family as their long lost more educated cousin.

[piranesi]

I'd rather that Sandow join the Wyatt family as their long lost more educated cousin.

 

That sounds like the episode of KING OF THE HILL where Kahn decided to give up and become a redneck.  Which means it would work better as a spinoff reality show on the network than as a wrestling angle.

 

When will we start getting 15-minute spinoff series like THE WYATT FAMILY TAKES OVER VARIOUS FRANCHISES FOR A DAY:

 

Episode 1: Starbucks

Episode 2: Chipotle

Episode 3: Forever 21

 

and so on...