WNS Column: Making Damien Sandow Relevent

Almost a year ago, we thought we were witnessing the rise of a new a star in the WWE: Damien Sandow. The Intellectual Savior of the Masses won the Money in the Bank contract for the World Heavyweight championship. He had just double crossed his tag team partner, Cody Rhodes, and it seemed that he was on the track to stardom.

But what happened?

Sandow entered a feud with Rhodes, losing cleanly at Summerslam. He was then televised losing matches to the likes of Santino Marella and R-Truth regularly over the course of the next few months.

On October 28, 2013, Sandow finally cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. John Cena had just returned the night before at Hell in the Cell and won the World Heavyweight Championship. After brutally beating Cena down with his leather briefcase, Sandow handed the contract in. This was his time; it was going to his first major victory in the WWE.

Even despite Cena's injured elbow, The Duke of Decency could not overcome the wrath of Super Cena.

The match itself was so good, that you had to figure this was at least going to evolve into a rivalry between WWE's poster boy, John Cena, and the up-and-coming talent of Damien Sandow.

But that was far from reality.

Sandow floated around shows throughout November, with no real purpose. He did become the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship in December, but he lost this match to Big E at TLC.

He then became the first man eliminated from the Royal Rumble, lost to Sin Cara in under a minute, looked like a coward during Daniel Bryan's “Occupy Raw” movement and dressed up as Magneto during a segment with Hugh Jackman.

Also, viewers witnessed Sandow endure a losing streak that lasted from mid-January until the end of April.

The tides are hopefully turning for the former Mr. Money in the Bank.

He's been featured with more mic time as of late, most notably this past Monday, when he interrupted the Raw pre-show. Even though the promos are continually cut, WWE is still giving Sandow some of the spotlight.

It's going to take more than making fun of Jimmy Hart's attire and talking about how fed up he is with how things are going to get the attention of the WWE Universe though.

Having Sandow attack other wrestlers is one step in him becoming relevant again. If he is sick and tired about how things have been going as of late, have him prove it not only verbally, but physically.

Also, continue having Sandow vent his frustrations. His verbal skills are his best asset; keep giving him the mic to showcase that. He can potentially become a midcard version of CM Punk. Sandow as an anti-authority, intellectual threat could become popular.

Another potential option for Sandow is to put him back in the tag team circuit. With the division falling off a bit as of late, Sandow and The Miz, when he returns, could join forces together to become a team based on unruliness and frustration.

Damien Sandow is too good of a talent for the WWE to have float into obscurity. After being made look like a fool continually since

October, it is going to take a good amount of work to revitalize Sandow's career, but luckily for him, this is the time to do it. With a void left by Daniel Bryan's neck injury, and CM Punk having no plans to return anytime soon, or ever again, there are openings for Sandow to prove himself. 

- Tyler Trill, find me on Twitter @ttrill_