Former WWE star Damien Sandow was a guest on a recent episode of the X-Pac 12360 podcast show discussing the creation of both the Damien Sandow and Mizdow characters.
When asked about the creation of the Damien Sandow character, Sandow stated Rip Rogers was a big source of inspiration and helped build the character’s traits and direction.
“There is no one I respect more than Rip Rogers. You know and in terms of the mind, that man has for the business. In terms of like just how he lays it out in just a simplistic way. And had it not been for Rip Rogers, I would have never been the intellectual savior because he, he just taught me how to simplify everything.”
When asked about the Mizdow character, Sandow revealed Tyson Kidd was among the first to notice and like the idea of Sandow mimicking the mannerisms of The Miz. Sandow stated Vince McMahon was also a fan of the idea and gave him enough creative freedom to build up his new gimmick.
“I remember Tyson Kidd of all people, who is a good buddy of mine and an awesome guy, goes, ‘did you just put the figure four on the invisible man when Miz did?’ I go, ‘Yup.’ He goes, ‘that was the greatest thing I’ve seen on the show (Monday Night RAW) in a long time.’ I just said, ‘Well you know what, watch next week.’
“After a couple weeks, Vince( McMahon) was like, ‘Well, I noticed you are mimicking Miz?’ ‘Yup.’ ‘Do whatever you want, if it gets too overboard, I’ll pull you back. And I just went, ‘Okay.'”