Santino, can he make it?

Having seen Santino's performance in the Elimination Chamber, and thinking back on his career thus far, I'm wondering if WWE are building him up for a Main Event push?

Think about it, in his debut match he won the Intercontinental Championship, and did it by becoming only the third man to defeat Umaga. He was later paired with Beth Phoenix, at the time her on-screen character was the Divas version of Cena or Orton in terms of success, again winning the Intercontinental Championship. In late 2010, he and Vladimir Kozlov won the Tag Team Championship from The Nexus, at the time still a high profile stable in WWE. Then, at the beginning of 2011, he finishes as the Runner-Up in the Royal Rumble, a match he had lasted under 30 seconds total in all his previous appearances. A couple of injuries led to a quiet 2011, but then he became the Assisstant General Manager to Teddy Long on Smackdown, gaining regular exposure on both Raw and Smackdown. When Zack Ryder received that privelige, it was part of the biggest push of his career. Santino is seemingly starting to mirror that, as now he competed for the World Heavyweight Championship inside the Elimination Chamber, and whats more, was the final man eliminated.

I may be wrong, but to me it looks to me as though Santino is being built up to the Main Event scene. If his gimmick is tweaked and becomes more serious, and has a heel turn, I think he could legitimately compete with the likes of Orton, Christian, Cena and others. Whilst I struggle to see him as a World Champion, I could see him up there, bringing the fight to the established Main Event.

Does anyone else agree with me there?

I don't see Santino getting any world championship runs. But i do see him in the HOF 20 years from now, purely because he is one of the characters who won't ever make it big BUT will always be entertaining and be remembered for that.

There are many guys currently in the HOF who has never been world champion but had such a memorable character and one or two really great main event pushes they were remembered for that.

I dont think he'll win a World Title, I'll be a little surprised if he does. But I can see him working the Main Event for a while, becoming a legitimate force before a lengthy run on the Upper-Midcard.

Santino doesn't deserve it, he didn't deserve to be in the chamber match last night either. I don't know what WWE were thinking putting him in that and having him outlast everyone but Daniel Bryan. Keep him in backstage segments where he belongs and out of the ring

I think thats possibly a bit unfair. Santino is a consistant worker, great on the mic, not too shoddy in the ring. I think its his gimmick thats holding him back. Change his gimmick to be much more serious and change his finisher to a more respectable one and we have a concrete Upper-Midcard talent on our hands.