Sandow was weird, in that I suspect the main reason he was "over" is that he was so underutilized, and I thought if they actually did give him the role people felt he deserved, the novelty and pops would go away quickly. He still deserved better than just being a random jobber though.

Barrett was the most wasted ever and I think they botched basically every part of his career starting with having Cena bury him in his first main angle.

Yeah, basically Zack Ryder. There was a time we were all crucifying Vince for his "mistreatment" too.

Sandow was alright in the two roles prior to it, but Jay Lethal probably did a better Macho Man impression as a child, and was a better wrestler as a teenager than Sandow ever will be. How many gimmicks do you expect wrestling writers to keep finding for you?

How awesome would it have been if BNB entered the Rumble at 30 instead of Rey

I liked Sandow a lot too, but let's be honest, he had at best a mid card ceiling. Since I started watching again, he had 4 different characters. Some comedy heel gimmick, where he would seemingly get squashed by the local hero on RAW. Then he became Mizdow, which was awesome when he was with Miz, but the second he left him, he fizzled out. Then he waddling Macho Mandow, which wasnt going anywhere before they abandoned it. Then whatever this last character was before he was let go. How much more could they have done with him?

Meh on Sandow, I think if he was booked well he could have been at main event level once or twice. The kind of guy you might use as enhancement talent for a guy that is on a long face run and has already knocked down a bunch of challengers. Never saw him as actually having a good run with the main belt though.

His last character was sort of a gimped version of his original intellectual character which was decent, I'm guessing you started watching after that. He won a MITB(failed cash in vs Cena) and was in a really good tag team with Cody that was cut short for no reason at all. It really is such a huge waste because he could have no doubt transitioned into a decent manager or announcer if they didn't want to use him as a wrestler.

How many of you would have been excited to see a random thirty-minute match between Sandow and Barrett?

You never really know if someone can make it as an announcer until they actually are one. Superstar Graham, Lord Alfred Hayes, Magnum TA, Baron Von Raschke, etc. were all great promos and nothing as announcers. And that's without having to do 2-3 hours in a row or having an elderly Vince in your ear all show etc. Takes a totally different mindset and people that are passionate about being a wrestler may not be passionate as an announcer (or a manager, for that matter).

That's probably not fair because random thrown together matches between any two guys are rarely something I want to see.

I wouldn't but I don't think Sandow was main event material. However, he was entertaining enough to be on tv every week.

I'm often too skeptical of people who come in the E whether I know them or not. When I first saw Barrett, I instantly saw a star. Injuries and Vince's agenda really ruined it.

My point is, is either a guy someone who you think can win over a crowd if put in that position? I think they saw Barrett in the same vein as Ryback, someone with a good look who you could push to a title level for a short period but who didn't have enough in the ring to sustain that level on the card, so you use them up in a short-term angle while they are still fresh and not viewed as damaged goods before sending them to the midcard.

We remember Barrett and Sandow for not being John Cena, but now there are a lot of better options for relatively fresh faces. Since I don't recall seeing either guy as something special in the ring, maybe the best use of them is in a tag team or stable. I've said before that League of Nations should have had Barrett as the frontman and mouthpiece instead of passing the mic around.

I would have considered putting Sandow and Sami Zayn in a short-term tag team/alliance, taking advantage of the current political climate by having them attacked by some dastardly heels who targeted both of them for being of Middle Eastern descent. It would be a way to take Sami away from 50-50 midcard booking. I'm a fan of giving guys a sabbatical away from singles competition by sticking them in tag teams.

Long matches without any lasting consequences describes the WWE midcard and main event scenes pretty well for the most part. Shouldn't be that way but that's how they tend to book.

What long matches?

Pretty common for a match to span two Raw commercial breaks.

I don't consider 10-15 minutes to be long for a singles match. 25-30 is long.

My point was that either can be compelling in a half hour match (as with Cena) if the story fits. If Barrett had been continually booked the right way, I think he could have been there and I'd disagree with the Ryback grouping. In fact, I think the main (or maybe only) reason he was held back was because they didn't trust him to stay healthy.

The thing is, even if a guy is a kid carder at best talent, why get rid of that? You need role players, and guys to stick around the intercontinental belt level.

Speaking of, you also need jobbers. Having clearly defined tiers of wrestlers makes everything better.

'Long' is subjective but the vast majority of TV matches in wrestling history have been well under 10 minutes. Either way, Sandow's strength is playing a character, not his in ring athleticism. And the in ring athleticism is the focus of WWE's midcard and upper card (outside of the chants, the cheap heat, the McMahons, and the marketing); storytelling and character development are not strengths of this company right now. Putting him high on the card for an extended period of time would have just been exposing his weakness over and over given how they book.

New Bullet Club member baybay.

Matches being advertised (locally) for the BatB special:

Owens vs. Lesnar
Cena vs. Shinsuke

That's insane. Can't wait.

Wow nice

Wonder if cena does the job?

That seems very doubtful. Still huge potential to be a great match though.

It's right before the tour of Japan, so I can't imagine them having Nakamura lose (or Asuka, who will be facing Charlotte). Although, if it's not televised, it won't really matter.