Top Five Popular WWE Mid Card Wrestlers That Were Not Utilized

Brian Damage

There is an old saying, “Strike while the iron is hot.” That saying certainly applies to a select few wrestlers that gained a following in WWE despite a lack of a push or real investment into their characters. Instead of the company just going with the wave of popularity these individuals were seeing, they were stagnated in the mid card or given poorly executed angles that killed their once strong momentum. Today’s ‘Top Five’ looks at a few mid card wrestlers who were never able to fully capitalize on that initial popularity.

Curtis Axel

For Curtis Axel… who was a third generation wrestler…his outlook might have been looked at very differently. After an initial push in the Nexus and being paired with Paul Heyman as his manager, which saw him win the Intercontinental title, Curtis’ career dropped down significantly. It wasn’t until he was attacked at the Royal Rumble and failed to enter, that Axel went on a one man crusade to claim that he was the uncrowned Rumble winner. Axelmania was born and with it came a pretty strong fan following. Unfortunately, WWE creative made him into a parody of Hulk Hogan and all that momentum was eventually killed off.

Damien Mizdow

Damien Sandow had an up and down WWE career, but it wasn’t until he became the “body double” for the Miz as Damien Mizdow that his career really skyrocketed in popularity. Fans were eating up all of his antics of impersonating the Miz and taking bumps for the A lister. When it finally came time to split up the pair, it looked as if Mizdow was going to become a huge star. Instead, a so so feud with the Miz followed by Mizdow doing a series of other impersonations flattened him as a rising star.

Rusev

Rusev was able to get himself over with fans using the catchphrase ‘Rusev Day.’ Every day was Rusev Day and the fans ate it up chanting it in arenas and using various memes on the internet. Unfortunately, Vince McMahon saw the Rusev Day phenomenon as a joke on Rusev and felt fans were making fun of him rather than cheer him in appreciation.

Fandango

There was a time where Fandangoing was a thing in WWE. Basically, it was the fans humming his theme song in unison, while imitating one of his dance moves. It was a thing of beauty to see. Unfortunately, some of the higher ups believed that it was just a fad that would pass instead of really riding the wave to see where it went. Eventually, his immense popularity faded away and nothing more really came of Fandango in the company.

Zack Ryder

Zack Ryder was the classic case of a self made superstar. Matt Cardona did everything within his power using social media to build his character into not only an internet sensation, but a very popular star in WWE. You would think WWE would really take the ball and run with it. In a way they did. They awarded him the United States championship and put him in a program alongside John Cena. Unfortunately, he was booked horribly as a second banana to Cena, a sucker who was used by Eve Torres and a bump machine to Kane which made him look very weak. It seemed as almost if, WWE was trying to kill off Ryder’s popularity. Perhaps because they (WWE) didn’t create it themselves?