Thanks to Chris Van Vliet for the following:
I did an interview with Damien Sandow in Los Angeles, which is where he is now living and pursuing an acting career. It was interesting hearing his take on everything considering he hasn’t been in a ring in over 2 years. He talks about why he left wrestling, whether he would be interested in signing with AEW, his failed Money In The Bank cash in, the comparisons to Elias and much more.
Does he have any interest in signing with AEW?
“Right now I know I have a pretty busy summer coming up, I don’t know where I would fit time in. And also the thing is I haven’t been in a ring in almost two years. Do I like to think that I could get in there and be just like I was? Yes. Not to sound braggadocios, could I probably do that if I was in front of a live crowd? Yes. At practice, no. I’m one of those people that needs to be there live and doing it. I would want to be at my best. I would want to get in a ring and move around just to make sure I’m ok and more importantly that I could protect anyone I’m in there with. Look, it’s not me I’m worried about, it’s always the other person. It’s always protecting everyone you’re in there with and I would just owe that to anybody that I’m going to step in there with.”
His thoughts on AEW:
“Do I think that within the first two weeks the Monday Night Wars will reignite? No. But I will say this, definitely from what I hear, and I’m not that brushed up on what’s going on, it looks like they have the financial backing most definitely. And they’ve definitely got the talent. It’s going to be storyline wise, are they that tuned in to what fans have wanted?… Do I think that they have the best chance to do it out of anyone? Absolutely. And I really do wish that they succeed and kind of bring wrestling back. Cody and I have talked extensively about the business and everything in the past, his ideas and what he believes makes a good wrestling show and what makes good wrestling and I think that’s a really good idea. I’m not very familiar with the Young Bucks but obviously they know what they’re doing and I think it’s going to be really interesting.”
Is he done with wrestling forever?
“Right now I’m really just trying to focus on acting but that doesn’t mean I’m never going to step in a ring again because let’s face it, everyone says I’m done, I’m done and everyone comes back and I’m just not going to be that guy. What if I do get an itch some day? I don’t want to niche myself into saying I’m just an actor. No, I’m me. I’m trying acting and digging it but that doesn’t mean I’m going to deny my past.”
Is he bitter about how things ended in WWE?
“I don’t harbor feelings of ‘Oh this should have happened.’ No. Whatever happened, happened. That’s the way it is. Hey, good luck, thank you very much and it’s just time to move on. You can’t direct all of this emotion into either a business or individuals and think ‘Oh they should have done this’ because you’ll just eat yourself up over it and it’s not worth it to me. I’m having way more fun now and my life is way more bizarre now than when I was wrestling.”
On people who say he looks like Elias:
“That’s so funny and I met him once, I think I was in the Performance Center and he said ‘Everyone says I look like you’ and I said ‘Well I hope you can do better with it than me.’ From what I’ve seen of him, and I don’t watch the product that much, he really is talented and I’m really happy for him.”
