The problem is in the case of Jeter, Mondo, and Doane, it fucked with their confidence. Doane & Jeter were considered "cant miss" blue chip prospects. After the company gave up on the gimmick, they wouldnt push any of the four because of the stigma of the gimmick. Doane is the only one who stayed on the main roster, and his lack of push got to his head.
Doane is so bad now. His stuff on the indy circuit is brutal. No energy, no swagger. He stalls and does restholds. I'm convinced Spirit Squad killed his career, along with Jeter for sure. To be fair, Mitchell had a bad back, and Mondo is a drunk.
Ziggler sucks, but thats just my personal opinion. He has a silly gimmick and does nothing special in the ring. He works sooooo sloooooow, but to be fair thats probably what they want since he's a heel.
THIS.
There were only three guys in the Spirit Squad with any ability to stick on the roster once the gimmick was over. Nick Nemeth, Johnny Jeter, and Ken Doane.
Doane was a guy that was, at one point, seen in the same light as Randy Orton or Ted Dibiase Jr.
Totally agree with the assessment here...if you've seen Ken Doane as The Blue Chipper back in OVW, he was no where near the same after a few weeks of the Spirit Squad breaking up...they also gave him a shit name.
Jeter went back to OVW and soon faded into bolivia when he couldn't roid. However, his work in OVW was very very strong.
Nick so far has gotten farther than both for one reason...he was immediately taken off TV, sent down for him to be forgotten about forever. Then, when he comes back, its with a completely different look and he is never ever recognized as the dude from the Spirit Squad ever again.
Sadly, the Spirit Squad concept was more of a stigma to the boys in the back and Vince McMahon and the rest of creative than it was to the fans. Those guys actually did a fine job, IMO, taking an unworkable gimmick and making it work, despite getting squashed on the regular. They turned the All-Male Cheerleaders into more of a "group of frat house guys" and I think it worked...it wasn't amazing, but it shouldn't have been a career killer.
Doane should have gone on to have a similar career to a Cody Rhodes at least, to this point. Jeter would be a regular on ECW. And you'd have Dolph Ziggler who would be where he is now.
It shouldn't have been such an evil concept or carried such a stigma, and it didn't to the fans, but to the creative dept and those that matter is such things, it did.
It killed some careers in the WWE, for sure.