Vince McMahon Admitted That He Made A Huge Mistake With Damien Sandow
It’s an old saying in wrestling that, “If something gets hot in this business, you run with it.” Unfortunately, a window can close on a performer very quickly just by WWE officials missing the chance. For a former WWE Superstar like Damien Sandow, he fell victim to one booking mistake that had a big impact on his career in WWE. Former WWE writer Kevin Eck revealed a huge mistake Vince McMahon made regarding Sandow.
“After winning the MITB ladder match, Sandow began losing a lot more matches than he was winning. McMahon explained at the time that the losses wouldn’t hurt Sandow because he still had the briefcase. However, one of McMahon’s favorite sayings is ‘perception becomes reality.’ The perception was that Sandow wasn’t world champion material, and McMahon eventually saw him that way as well.
“When discussing Sandow at a booking meeting a few months after the MITB pay-per-view, McMahon said, ‘I think we went with the wrong guy.'”
Damien Sandow is one of only two people to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase and fail to become the World Champion. After seeing the picture that Eck painted, it would be easy to blame Vince McMahon for almost sabotaging Sandow’s push. However, his failed Money in the Bank cash-in wasn’t where the powers that be missed the opportunity to make Sandow a major star for the company. That happened much later.
Some have argued that Sandow never recovered from the failed cash-in, but his popularity reached heights no one imagined during his time as The Miz’s “stunt double.” Few performers were as over as Sandow was heading into Wrestlemania 31. However, WWE officials never fully embraced his organic push from WWE fans and his WWE career floundered until Sandow was eventually released by the company in May 2016.
WWE fans can point the finger at many people because, at the height of his popularity, it still baffles most critics and fans that WWE officials didn’t take a chance on seeing what Damien Sandow could do as a face on WWE programming. Many people will refer to Sandow as the embodiment of a missed opportunity. His run with the company is the evidence that you push something that’s hot in this industry, or it’s just a waste.
It’s unfortunate that Damien Sandow’s wrestling career hasn’t progressed well outside of WWE, but it’s sad to say that his moment may have passed. Many fans were hopeful that he could return to WWE eventually, and become the star WWE fans believed he could be. You have to wonder how Vince McMahon feels about the decisions he made with Damien Sandow now. You have to believe that he’d have done things differently.
[Featured Image by WWE]
