Zack Ryder was on nobody’s favourites list when he was entered into the Intercontinental Championship ladder match at WrestleMania. So it came as nothing short of a shock when the Long Island Ice Z won the whole match.
However, his push would last all but 24 hours as he became the latest Champion to fall victim to the ‘Title loss on the week after WrestleMania’ list which already included guys like Chris Jericho, Kane and the Bigshow from past years.
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Ryder is not the only one to be pushed for a short amount of time before being relegated back to the wilderness, though. This list takes a look at five other guys whom the WWE gave up on too soon in the past five years.
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- Dolph Ziggler
- Dolph Ziggler is not technically a jobber, but he is pretty close. WWE has a long history of building Ziggler up and then immediately losing interest for no obvious reason.While his in-ring capabilities have never been in question – he is still the best damn worker on the roster – he has never been backed continuously to become a main event star.
- Ziggler’s first brush with the main event was when he was managed by Vickie Guerrero and entered into a rivalry with the then World Champion Edge. This saw him being awarded the World title – never a great way to win your first world championship – and then lose it on the same night. A host of Spears ended that push as soon as it began.
- After a few months in the wilderness, Ziggler would finally find his groove as a brash heel engaging in a feud with John Cena and A J Lee, with the latter eventually becoming his valet.
- Great success followed and the Raw audience blew the roof off when the then heel Ziggler cashed in his money in the bank on the baby face Alberto Del Rio to become World Champion again.
- A bizarre double turn in the rematch ended Dolph’s title reign at the first time of asking and the now face Ziggler was pushed down the ranks.
- Nearly two years later, Ziggler would become the sole survivor in a huge Survivor Series Elimination match to oust the Authority from power, but that push ended with him losing the IC title to Wade Barrett during the latter’s return to the company.
- As of late, we have seen Ziggler slide down to lower midcard status, with prominent angles involving a worthless love quintet and of course, losing to Raw debutants.
- Neville
Neville’s Raw debut was met with a huge crowd reaction and it was reinforced when the upstart almost upset the then WWE Champion Seth Rollins in one of his first matches on the roster. He proceeded to feud with Wade Barrett.
However, Neville’s career failed to take off compared to another NXT stalwart in Kevin Owens and it certainly wasn’t due to fan apathy. WWE Creative seemed to lose interest in him pretty soon and Neville was relegated to a forgettable feud with Stardust.
Pretty soon, he became entrenched in the lower mid card status losing to the likes of Kalisto and seeing himself getting eliminated from the Royal Rumble at the hands of Luke Harper.
3. Damien Sandow
Damien Sandow shouldn’t exactly figure in this list as the WWE never seemed to have any interest in him in the first place. True, he did win the Money in the Bank briefcase, but went on to become the first guy to cash in unannounced and lose.
Sandow was relegated to jobber status but when his ‘stunt double’ gimmick with the Miz caught the imagination of the public, WWE had another star. But then Creative famously managed to screw it up.
No single PPV match was booked between Miz and Sandow after their split and the Mizdow character was phased out – despite Sandow getting huge pops during his entrances.
Imitating Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan wasn’t going to stick either. At least he got to smooch Summer Rae before she, inevitably, double-crossed him.
4. Tyler Breeze
Tyler Breeze is the third entry on this list who was associated on screen with Summer Rae – and he is not the last.
Brought in to replace an injured Rusev and to extend the Lana-Ziggler-Summer storyline, Breeze picked up an admirable victory over the Showoff, but that was as good as it got.
He is firmly entrenched in the lower midcard now, perilously close to being a jobber.
5.Fandango
Fandango produced one of the biggest upsets in WrestleMania history when he upset Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 29 and the fans seemed to hop on board the ‘Fandangoing’ Superstar. His entrance music became an overnight sensation and had a brief stay at the top 11 of the UK Charts.
However, an injury put him out of the Intercontinental title match he was sure to win and Fandango was never the same since. He lost to guys like the Miz, Big E and R-Truth on his return to the ring and could never recapture the magic.
Despite changing his dance partners multiple times - from Summer Rae to Layla to Rosa Mendes – Fandango’s push never recovered.
