Fandango: Where did it go wrong?

[J.J.]

Fandango is one of many wrestlers that had a hyped debut, refused to compete due to the mispronouncing of his name and was inserted in a program with Chris Jericho. His career looked well on it's way to becoming something creative would get over, that was until the next night on Raw. The Raw following Wrestlemania put Fandango on the map, but not for his gimmick or his ring work but because of his theme song, the fans in attendance even created a dance for it.

Of course in WWE fashion they took it upon themselves to make it out as something they created by dubbing it; "Fandango-ing". They kept him heel for whatever reason and later on booked him to win the Intercontinental title. Unfortunately for him he suffered a concussion and Curtis Axel was granted the shot and win.

After that he was no longer pushed, went on a losing streak and seemingly found himself being eliminated from the Royal Rumble that following year to El Torito. Involvement with Layla and Summer Rae did him no good, change of theme song to represent a salsa dancer speaks for itself.

To cap it off, they finally give him back his original ballroom gimmick, theme song and turn him face to feud with Adam Rose and even have him embrace the dance the fans created. I would argue the face change was two years too late and the concussion is what has made him an afterthought. Was it true he didn't report his concussion right away?

So my question is, where do you think it went wrong?

 

[Bernkastel]

I think it went awry somewhere in between Fandango debuting as a man with a dancing gimmick and... Fandango debuting as a guy with a dancing gimmick. Johnny Curtis has talent, but there's only so far that he could take a character like that. Fandango never had any real depth to him, and WWE always sold us on some variation of his dancing gimmick. The mid card would have been as far as the character would have gone. BUT having an entire Wrestlemania crowd humming his theme song, even after the show was already over and everyone was pouring into the parking lots, was definitely a nice moment for the character. Probably the ultimate moment for the character.

WWE has obviously kept him around because the character has proven to be a nice mid card novelty for the audience, which realistically speaking would have been the highest a character like Fandango would have gone. And honestly I think the character still has plenty to offer.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

He had limited scope. He's in the position that character was always going to end up in. His push was derailed slightly quicker than planned when he got concussed and didn't compete for an I.C. Title he probably would've won. But not by much.

His main run was 3 years ago so I honestly can't remember if he'd be worth repackaging. Curtis is good looking and has a solid body, but I suspect the ship has sailed on his WWE career.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think it went about as "right" as it possibly could. I had low expectations for Fandango the moment I saw the first vignette because I knew the potential for the gimmick was limited.

The character was someone who was a "professional dancer" and being a professional wrestler means you have to be a "tough guy" right? Well, the terms "tough guy" and "professional dancer" just don't go together in the minds of many people. While societal attitudes towards assigning certain traits to someone just because of their look, clothing or whatever have changed and continue to change, it's still sorta black & white in the eyes of pro wrestling fans.

Absurdity to certain degrees is to be expected in professional wrestling, I fail to see how it couldn't when you consider it's scripted. Absurdity, however, is something that's generally tolerated and accepted towards the lower end of the card and, at the upper most, in the mid-card range. For instance, while I can accept the Honky Tonk Man as the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion in history, albeit grudgingly, I'd have a difficult time accepting a glorified Elvis impersonator as having been WWE Champion. The guy's character, his gimmick itself, really was pretty ridiculous and, as a result, he wasn't taken too seriously as a threat against guys like Warrior, Savage or Hogan. Even though he feuded with Savage, he never came close to achieving a decisive victory in which he was able to retain a lot of credibility as champ. It's sort of the same with Fandango as the whole idea was inspired by Dancing with the Stars. Just as with HTM, Fandango is pretty one dimensional when you get right down to it. Fandango has his little dance moves, HTM had his Elvis mannerisms and jumpsuit. Today, HTM wouldn't even get out of the blocks, he certainly wouldn't make it higher than Fandango, because they're cut from the same cloth as the likes of Fandango, Santino Marella and Zack Ryder. All have their fans and, in retrospect where HTM is concerned, that's all well and good; but they're generally comedy acts that simply aren't viewed as having the goods. I mean...would fans pop if Santino Marella won the WWE Championship? Sure they would, but the complaints would start up almost immediately and said complaints would only gather more steam and support once the euphoria of the moment died down.

 

[Hem]

Look the WWE knew that this kid was only going to get so far, he had a ceiling and he'd already hit it. As soon as he was really hot he got hurt and that usually doesn't seem to please the management, and can you blame anyone for that? As far as I'm concerned, in the current incarnation, Fandango is nothing but a jobber to low mid card guy. Maybe he leaves the company and company and reinvents himself, EC3 did it... Bully Ray did it..maybe Fandango is next.

 

[J.J.]

Look the WWE knew that this kid was only going to get so far, he had a ceiling and he'd already hit it. As soon as he was really hot he got hurt and that usually doesn't seem to please the management, and can you blame anyone for that? As far as I'm concerned, in the current incarnation, Fandango is nothing but a jobber to low mid card guy. Maybe he leaves the company and company and reinvents himself, EC3 did it... Bully Ray did it..maybe Fandango is next.

Did they really think he was going to go so far? They hyped his debut, put him on the grand stage at WM and have him win. With the mindset he was only going so far? I respectfully disagree with that. Anyone WWE brings in I imagine they're hoping for the best because they're a business first. If a guy or gal is over, well that's good for the company, right?

The character was someone who was a "professional dancer" and being a professional wrestler means you have to be a "tough guy" right?

I was never expecting this guy to be a main eventer but a solid under worker. It seems clear that they had some level of expectations for him if he was supposed to be IC champ. Goldust was a drag, Val Venus was a pornstar, John Cena was pretending to be Jamie Kennedy and IRS was a tax man. None of those gimmicks screamed tough guy, but the exception of Cena they all were pretty solid.

 

[Aquaman6686]

It went wrong the instant he debuted as the Fandango character, refusing to wrestle because people mispronounced his name. It set up a false expectation that he was worth waiting for, which was completely untrue. Curtis is a sub-par talent and always has been. Once he beat Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 29 (easily one of the top WWE booking mistakes of all time), he was done. It set up an impossible feat to duplicate. If they had Jericho beat him at WrestleMania, his career would have gone much better. 100% guaranteed.

 

[Hem]

@J.J. I totally get what you mean. They did the same thing for Brodus Clay a while back. It was a lot of promise or potential (both Fandago and Clay are mid card to me at most) that were basically wasted by poor follow-up booking.

 

[J.J.]

@J.J. I totally get what you mean. They did the same thing for Brodus Clay a while back. It was a lot of promise or potential (both Fandago and Clay are mid card to me at most) that were basically wasted by poor follow-up booking.

Fans were expecting Brodus Clay to be this monster heel and Vince came up with this idea of Funkasaurus. That character was too dated when comparing it to Fandango's. I feel it would've worked better had they allowed him to talk during his matches like he did in his first one.

 

[shafe_41]

Where did it go wrong? When was it ever right? His gimmick was ballroom dancing. What else do you really need to say about it? Ballroom dancing doesn't translate to "professional wrestler to take seriously." The biggest benefit he ever had was his theme song and the video after Mania that had people doing the Fandango thing with their hands. The things that were popular about him... weren't things he did in or out of the ring. It also didn't help that at Mania, his match sucked. So many little misses in one match made it hard to watch. Especially the botched ending. No matter whose fault it may/may not have been.

Johnny Curtis needs to be repackaged. That's sort of the part that baffles me the most is that they haven't even tried to repackage him. Rid that stupid dancing gimmick and just let him be Johnny Curtis with a bit of an edge. The guy is super talented. But the gimmick belongs in a dumpster. It went about as well as a ballroom dancer gimmick can go in the professional wrestling world.

 

[The Brain]

I was one of the few on this forum that liked Fandango when he first showed up on tv. Most people shit on him from the beginning because they thought he had a terrible gimmick. I understand that but that's actually what I liked about him. Wrestling had always been filled with silly gimmicks and that kind of gimmick seemed to disappear in recent years. With that said, those kind of gimmicks are only going to go so far. Even though I liked Fandango I never expected him to climb too high up the ladder.

I went to WM29 with a few friends. We were all about Fandango that weekend. Just joking around doing the Fandango voice and stuff like that. I remember being surprised there was no Fandango merchandise in the store WWE set up for the weekend. Turned out to be a missed opportunity as that was really the only time to capitalize on Fandango. I thought me and my friends were going to be the only Fandango fans so I was surprised by the response he got. Mostly though I think it was just a bunch of wrestling fans just being silly and having a good time with their own kind on their special day. It was fun while it lasted but Fandango is a perfect example of 15 minutes of fame. I still think he could have been used better than he was but that mainstream fame was not going to last.

 

[OYDK]

I find it difficult to believe that WWE didn't have at least some sort of plan for Fandango. As has been mentioned, his first ever match ended in a Wrestlemania victory over a legend in Chris Jericho (before Jericho's legitimacy had been tarnished), and that was before the "Fandangoing" fad even took off. Not long after, there were plans to put the IC belt on him... that means that after just 4-5 months into his WWE career he would have already beaten Y2J at Mania and captured the IC title. While there may not have been huge plans for the Fandango character, WWE did seem to think a whole lot of Johnny Curtis. I expected, and still expect to some degree, WWE to re-package Fandango eventually into a more legitimate gimmick for Curtis.

Where it all went wrong was his injury. That killed the momentum of the whole "Fandangoing" thing and it took away an IC title run. Upon his return, similar to Bo Dallas, he had been passed up for others... basically, he missed his shot. He had a ton of momentum and may have continued to carry it through today had he not been forced off of TV. Had he not gotten injured, who knows where Johnny Curtis would be now?

 

[Navi]

Like others have said he had a limited shelf life with his gimmick. I didn't mind it so much, hated the repackaged darker version with Rosa Mendes, she did nothing for him at all, but yes I will admit I "Fandango'd" in my seat when he came out.

That being said, Fandango is not a bad wrestler, he's got a good look and mic wise he's okay. But the ballroom dancing gimmick wasn't one that was going to take him to the top spot, although I don't expect they thought it would. He's a nice mid card act, although I haven't seen him in forever, it's like he disappeared off the face of the earth.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

Fandango always reminded me of Zack Ryder, and even to some distant extent Daniel Bryan. Ryder was a home grown guy who was never meant to be more than a midcarder. He got something over with fans and started to get a tremendous reaction, but WWE did nothing with him and for lack of a better word, buried him (not a fan of that phrase).

The fans loved Fandangoing like they loved chanting for Ryder, and how they started to do the "yes" chant for Bryan. Bryan and Fandango left back to back WrestleManias with very over chants, only to have said chants booked against.

Bryan launched the "no" chant, while Fandango lost a bunch and stopped appearing on TV. Ryder was fed to Kane, had his popular Youtube show watered down, also promptly vanishing from TV.

It's especially odd for me in the case of Fandango and Ryder, seeing as they were both homegrown talents, never wrestling for any major indie promotion before coming to WWE.

I think where it went wrong for Fandango, like Ryder before him, is they generated an incredible reaction that was far and above from what WWE wanted.

WWE wanted a hated heel in Fandango, like they did in Ryder. They took current culture (Dancing with the Stars and Jersey Shore respectively) and put it into wrestling heels that were struggling to get over. Instead of being booed out of the building, both got over with fans. WWE didn't want them over as fan favourites, they were supposed to be hated heels, punching bags for cool faces.

It's funny how Fandango could have been a thing if they embraced Fandangoing. I thought they were when they turned him babyface (last year I think) but then he vanished again. They didn't like him getting something over other than his intended purpose, so they got bored with him and booked him out by not booking him at all.

 

[Prince Vee]

I'll corroborate with Jack Hammer. Sometimes, you just can't give someone a credibility for the fans loving him a couple of nights. His character really doesn't have any depth and any midcard title if he had would've lost its worth. Fandango is a fun character and fans love it. I don't see him as a jobber albeit not as a championship material as well. He's a Entertainer and I can't even add the Sports before it. He can be used for some entertainment stuff in WWE which lacks a tad after Santino was out of it.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

The top rope leg drop was a mistake. It was very eye catching and went great with his character but was totally unsustainable. The impact on the back and spine is too much. He should have just saved it for special occasions.

Jandango was another big mistake. There was no good reason to drop her. She was gold. Gold JJ, gold. That woman was a modern day Ms. Elizabeth. Fandango and Jandango could have told a story that trancended wrestling. But alas, like the top rope leg drop she disappeared.

Throw in the Fandangoing from the fans and WWE's desire to exploit it that was already mentioned a million times.

And then the concussion hurt him but my goodness they really did bury that man for a while before he mostly disappeared.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The problem was Vince lost control of his "pet project" the first weekend...and never forgave him for it.

Fandango was something Vince wanted... He'd seen Dancing With The Stars and it's success and figured it'd be a clever crossover... putting him with Jericho was on paper smart, as he'd done the show... but it wasn't really referenced or used. They didn't bring in Stacy Keibler, another DWTS alumni to work Jericho's corner...

The biggest problem to Vince was "Fandangoing" where the UK based fans (Where Strictly Come Dancing, the original version of the show is a top rated show) hijacked the theme and were getting Fandango over ina manner not intended. It soured Vince on Johnny Curtis (like it was actually his fault) as we all know, any success HAS to be down to Vince.

Since then they've put some horrid angles together for him, he's become a poor man's version of The Model, had 99 problems plus women and not really been in the mix for even a tag title. He and Miz were an obvious team in the wake of Miz-Dow's split but it never happened. Like Thwagger, Fandango is an easy go to job guy - he's not even a Social Outcast... that's how low on the totem he is...

He's genuinely better leaving WWE like Justin Gabriel did and heading over to Japan for a while... or over to GFW... away from the gimmick, the Vince negativity, he could actually do some good and turn his career around in about 2 years... or he can still be where he is in 2 years... but with fewer alternatives left open.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

The missed opportunity with Fandango was not teaming him up with Heath Slater for a rejuvenated version of The Fabulous Freebirds. Fandango to me is the tag team flamboyant guy but missing his tag team partner. After WWE decided they didn't really want to use him anymore they could have repackaged him into Fandango and Heath...The Incredible Warhawks or something kind of lame but awesome at the same time. Let them win the tag titles in the first month and gain some popularity. The throw back eighties tag team that bolstered the division.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

Fandango always seemed a bit lame to me. Then when he beat Y2J at Wm, the following evening the English fans in attendance jokingly danced along to his entrance and people thought the character was over. It was not.

 

[BigBombB]

Honestly, I think Curtis was on a good track prior to the injury. Having him continue to work heel even after the "Fandango-ing" took off may not have seemed like a good short term idea but was definitely the right idea for the longterm. The phenomenon was going to be short lived but if they could have established a solid narcissistic heel character in the process then all involved would have benefited.

Fandango is more like Rick Rude than most people realize (mostly because the gimmick just hasn't reached anywhere near that level of success). I say this because Fandango's real strength is technical wrestling but he adds a bunch of additional flare to it with his over the top character. He is a slimey, smarmy, attractive but still detestable kind of heel. Honestly, even though the injury hurt him, I think his lack of eye-catching in-ring work is what really saw him fall back down the card so quickly. He is one of the best workers they have but without that one move (or a series of moves) to catch the audiences attention, he still kind of blended into the background despite his in-your-face gimmick.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

He was a ballroom dancer. He was doomed from the start. WWE should repackage Johnny Curtis or release him.

 

[J.J.]

He was a ballroom dancer. He was doomed from the start. WWE should repackage Johnny Curtis or release him.

I think with so many talents on the roster and many down in NXT there's no need to repackage him. I was never a huge fan of his but it's interesting to see how WWE handles situations with falling stars.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I think with so many talents on the roster and many down in NXT there's no need to repackage him. I was never a huge fan of his but it's interesting to see how WWE handles situations with falling stars.

That is also a problem WWE has (once everyone gets healthy) - there's too much talent.

That's a good problem to have, but when you get 75% (probably more) of the roster doing nothing meaningful, it's a problem.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Right from the start. Wrestling may have unusual gimmicks but if you are supposed to be this great world-class dancer, why are you in wrestling, an industry filled with leg injuries? They tried to play it as serious which made many people just roll their eyes. In today's world, it was just a little too goofy and failed because we don't see football players in their gear coming down to wrestle, or a doctor in scrubs yet here is a dancer wanting to wrestle.

 

[whoopin' ass]

That is also a problem WWE has (once everyone gets healthy) - there's too much talent.

That's a good problem to have, but when you get 75% (probably more) of the roster doing nothing meaningful, it's a problem.

Which generates 2 questions - why are the same guys on tv so much and why can't they have a rotation to give guys time off when clearly they have enough talent to cover? If they didn't have a bunch of generic heels already on the roster doing nothing, Fandango might have worked out better. wwe is so busy buying up wrestlers so no other company can use then but they clearly don't have any plans for them.