Damien Sandow's Losing Streak Returns

Have you ever watched a match and wished you hadn't? Maybe it had nothing to do with the guys involved and maybe it wasn't because of the stipulation attached to it, maybe you just knew what the outcome was going to be.

And maybe that outcome was going to make you want to punch somebody in the face. Hard.

That's where I was when watching The Miz versus Damien Mizdow on the April 20 edition of Monday Night Raw. It was a match that would see the winner walk away with The Miz brand; the right to use the name itself. Presumably, it's a desirable brand. I guess.

On paper it was a good idea. Seeing Damien walk away with the win would be a nice angle, a way to keep the heat between the two men alive and allow Damien the opporunity to really have some fun with his former partner.

But then I saw Summer Rae by The Miz's side and suddenly I knew exactly what was going to happen. It's at that point I cracked my knuckles and decided to find a face to punch.

If anyone has any good reason why Damien needed to lose this match, I'm all ears. It's one of those mysteries that defies explanation, one that demands to be examined. Why would WWE build such an entertaining storyline around The Miz and Damien, only to have it end with Damien doing the job?

This angle was supposed to get Damien up the ladder. It was supposed to give him the opporunity to recharge his batteries, to find his place in the company and to reconnect to a fanbase that had grown tired of his inability to win anything.

And then it was supposed to see him be liberated from The Miz so he could become the solid mid-card star he deserves to be. It's safe to say the former was accomplished but the latter? Not so much.

Instead of taking the momentum he had built under The Miz and using it to get over, Damien has instead fallen head first into nothing. He is right back where he was before The Miz took him under his wing and now I am really beginning to question what all of this was about.

Maybe it's too soon to call it and maybe something positive is on the way but I cannot shake the feeling that WWE has really screwed the pooch on this one. If this was all about getting The Miz over, then why not do that by pairing him up in a feud with someone a little higher than he is? Damien was below Miz in the pecking order and had lost ground, how does beating him help Miz at all?

This angle was designed to help Damien get to a respectable level. Fans were anxious to see him break free and become his own man, to get back at Miz and put him in his place. And every week it didn't happen was another week of anticipation to see it happen.

The perfect opportunity came at WrestleMania 31, as Damien threw Miz out of the battle royal. The crowd wanted it, it felt like the right move and then Damien could get the biggest win he had seen in a very long time. But it didn't happen.

Maybe that should have been the first indication something was wrong, that WWE was losing its grip on this angle. Maybe we should have known it would all end badly.

Now The Miz gets to celebrate his win with Summer, who he's only with because of The Marine 4 and Damien gets the Sandow name back.

But Damien also seems to have gotten his losing streak back. The guy that had found his niche as WWE's funny yet serious competitor that could pop the crowd every night is now back to doing nothing.

It's one of those angles that has gone far beyond head scratching. We all went along for the ride and now it's like we've been taken for a ride. Man, I really shouldn't have watched that match.