Eh, he is and isn't. They missed the boat on him a long time ago, back when he was MITB. Then fed him to Cena in an AWFUL booking move. His career was over that night. And he deserved better than that. The fucked up part is, you'd think jobbing to Cena is what ruined him. But it wasn't all that, it was just winning MITB in general. You realize he's carrying the briefcase for weeks, and JOBBING every single show. Then finally does a cash in and JOBS. It was the entire culmination of his MITB run, I don't think he won a single match while he had the briefcase. It was mind boggling to me.
And yeah, it's a shame. He is an outstanding talker, like maybe the best in the entire business because he legitimately works the guys in the ring with him. They can barely keep a straight face during his promos. He's that good.
After doing the angle with Miz, I'd of thought maybe they'll give him a proper singles run this time around. But wow, they yanked the rug out from under him all over again. Instant jobber status. And even managed to make him LESS over by doing this Macho Man insult gimmick. Bet Lanny is thrilled he agreed to the HOF now.
Ultimately, I think Sandow's true role in the WWE will be that of a "GM" type character at some point. Which he would rock at. I don't ever see him being a singles star in the WWE, because they have already buried him so far that he's under the arena. And yes, he grabbed the 'brass ring', he was always a team player, never once complained or bitched, always got over no matter how many times he jobbed or what nonsense they had him doing for a character, so fuck them for that.
The 'brass ring' does not exist. You know why guys get pushed? Because the plan for months was those guys to GET PUSHED. They are hand selected ahead of time by Vince/Hunter, based on their look or who they're friends with or who's ass they are properly kissing or all of the above. And that's not really a knock on any of their current main eventers, it's just me saying that unless you are the right guy in Vince/Hunter's eyes, you can outwork the whole roster in the ring on the mic, get pops every week, it'll make no difference. You are not pushed because of performance.