Wild Idea: Fandango, a gimmick change, and the hardcore title

[PeterSellersSTL]

[P]

What I'm about to deliver is a hardcore title match at Wrestlemania for the hardcore title, but not in the way you imagine and without ever bringing the title back out of retirement.

I like having fun in wrestling, I like gimmicks and I like characters. One of my favorite characters in the history of fiction is Indiana Jones. One of my favorite lines from Indy is "it belongs in a museum!".
Indiana Jones was a badass and he went on awesome adventures for awesome artifacts. WWE isn't short on artifacts and history of its own, but the hardcore title might be the holy grail.

https://twitter.com/wwearchivist

I want Fandango to be WWE's Indiana Jones. I want him to work for WWE as a historian. I want him to be the face of the artifact division of WWE. He could host a WWE Countdown on the Network as "Dr. Fandango", he could give tours during Wrestlemania week. He would bridge wrestling generations. Then. Now. Forever.

I want him paired with Summer Rae again, I thought they were great together. She's very animated and when she first debuted she was giving me vibes of Ms. Elizabeth. She can wear the hell out of a dress. Indiana Jones always had a girl, so should Fandango. I'd give fandango the same outfit as Indy; hat, whip -- the whole thing. Sting aped the Crow, and this gimmick just wouldn't work without the look. Now, obviously when he's not wrestling and he's Dr. Fandango he would be dressed down.

Remember how popular Fandango's theme was? Now imagine the crowd at Wrestlemania humming an awesome orchestral piece like John Williams' Indiana Jones theme. Imagine a full orchestra
playing Fandango out to the ring, how's that for a Wrestlemania entrance?

The best adventure I can think of right now is the quest for the missing hardcore title, leading to a Wrestlemania match.

It would be a great match and I love the thought of Fandango standing up, dusting himself off, and putting his hat back on. He could even do a little dance with Summer Rae afterwards, keeping ballroom dancing as a hobby. There's something cool about being able to dance after such a brutal match. A match that would also really help shake the idea that this is a comedy gimmick not to be taken seriously or that these artifacts
aren't of significance. The idea is to be fun and light but still engaging.

As for how to transition into the gimmick, I'd probably do it slowly and allow the audience to be in on it, instead of the "WTF is this shit" reaction people
usually have when a gimmick is introduced. I'd have Fandango begin to show an interest in artifacts, wrestling lore, and history. Maybe after 2 weeks he'd become bit of an expert. Then another week he'd find an Indiana Jones styled fedora and joke around backstage even coming up with a name for himself. Then when the gimmick is set to take off I'd have some WWE personnel burst in yelling that the hardcore title has gone missing. Fandango and Summer Rae would exchange a knowing look, aware that in that moment their destiny has changed and we're off to the races looking for the hardcore title.

"It belongs in the hall of fame!" "So do you!"

A hardcore title match at Wrestlemania for the hardcore title, without ever bringing it out of retirement and not in a way you would have ever guessed.

If you like this idea what would be your artifact and adventure?​

[/P]

 

[Woodstuff]

[P]

What I'm about to deliver is a hardcore title match at Wrestlemania for the hardcore title, but not in the way you imagine and without ever bringing the title back out of retirement.

I like having fun in wrestling, I like gimmicks and I like characters. One of my favorite characters in the history of fiction is Indiana Jones. One of my favorite lines from Indy is "it belongs in a museum!".
Indiana Jones was a badass and he went on awesome adventures for awesome artifacts. WWE isn't short on artifacts and history of its own, but the hardcore title might be the holy grail.

https://twitter.com/wwearchivist

I want Fandango to be WWE's Indiana Jones. I want him to work for WWE as a historian. I want him to be the face of the artifact division of WWE. He could host a WWE Countdown on the Network as "Dr. Fandango", he could give tours during Wrestlemania week. He would bridge wrestling generations. Then. Now. Forever.

I want him paired with Summer Rae again, I thought they were great together. She's very animated and when she first debuted she was giving me vibes of Ms. Elizabeth. She can wear the hell out of a dress. Indiana Jones always had a girl, so should Fandango. I'd give fandango the same outfit as Indy; hat, whip -- the whole thing. Sting aped the Crow, and this gimmick just wouldn't work without the look. Now, obviously when he's not wrestling and he's Dr. Fandango he would be dressed down.

Remember how popular Fandango's theme was? Now imagine the crowd at Wrestlemania humming an awesome orchestral piece like John Williams' Indiana Jones theme. Imagine a full orchestra
playing Fandango out to the ring, how's that for a Wrestlemania entrance?

The best adventure I can think of right now is the quest for the missing hardcore title, leading to a Wrestlemania match.

It would be a great match and I love the thought of Fandango standing up, dusting himself off, and putting his hat back on. He could even do a little dance with Summer Rae afterwards, keeping ballroom dancing as a hobby. There's something cool about being able to dance after such a brutal match. A match that would also really help shake the idea that this is a comedy gimmick not to be taken seriously or that these artifacts
aren't of significance. The idea is to be fun and light but still engaging.

As for how to transition into the gimmick, I'd probably do it slowly and allow the audience to be in on it, instead of the "WTF is this shit" reaction people
usually have when a gimmick is introduced. I'd have Fandango begin to show an interest in artifacts, wrestling lore, and history. Maybe after 2 weeks he'd become bit of an expert. Then another week he'd find an Indiana Jones styled fedora and joke around backstage even coming up with a name for himself. Then when the gimmick is set to take off I'd have some WWE personnel burst in yelling that the hardcore title has gone missing. Fandango and Summer Rae would exchange a knowing look, aware that in that moment their destiny has changed and we're off to the races looking for the hardcore title.

"It belongs in the hall of fame!" "So do you!"

A hardcore title match at Wrestlemania for the hardcore title, without ever bringing it out of retirement and not in a way you would have ever guessed.

If you like this idea what would be your artifact and adventure?​

[/P]

I like the Fandango/Indiana Jones idea, but a search for the suddenly missing hardcore title? If the title is missing, how is having a match for it at Wrestlemania going to find it? And who would the match be against? How would the match be set up? Didn't Edge & Mick Foley co-retire the title back in the mid-00s? Since when does WWE induct champonships into the HoF?

You've put a lot of thought into the gimmick itself, but the actual angle with the Hardcore title doesn't make much sense, and the actual content of the 'feud' would probably come off as severely wartered down and lacking in direction.

Maybe the new Fandang-diana Jones spots someone like The Miz walking around with the title, acting like a champion even though the belt is retired? Then Fandango sets out to claim the title back?

 

[Navi]

Fandango is a fair to decent wrestler in the ring. His gimmick though is appalling bad. Men hate it, women think it's ridiculous and the kiddies can't get into a ballroom dancer. Probably one of worst gimmicks he could have ever been given.

I like the idea of a Indiana Jones type, but I'm sure that Lucas Productions would be all over the WWE like ink on a dollar bill if he showed up looking like he just walked out of Temple of Doom.

He really doesn't need much of a gimmick, just put him out there to do what he does best, wrestle. Some of these ideas that they do come up with are so far over the top they just don't work. Fans like simple gimmicks like Axelmania for example, or Mizdow. It's hilarious, and not to be taken seriously, and that's what wrestling is missing, the fun part of it. Everything is just too damm serious these days.

I didn't like the old Fandango and I don't much like the new and improved Fandango either. Get the gimmick off him and he actually might be interesting. Leave him doing it and he'll be stuck in the lower mid card forever.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

He needs some sort of sadistic weird character. Johnny Curtis is a very good character wrestler, but this Fandango thing was beyond done a long time ago. Not sure exactly were they thought it would go in the first place, but yea. Everyone (who is a twat) was like "ohhh just give it a chance"...Well, it got beyond a chance, and has failed badly.

Move on.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

This is very well thought out, and I would like to see this as well. There's one thing though, does the old 24/7 rule still apply?

Thanks for the kind words. To answer your question no the 24/7 rule wouldn't be acknowledged since the title wouldn't officially be out of retirement, just stolen. Fandango would only agree to a hardcore match for a chance to recover it.

@Navi

I wouldn't worry about LucasArts too much, I mean it's a possibility but the treasure hunter character has been around since the advent of fiction. Indiana Jones' influence can be found in the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies, Tomb Raider. King Solomon's mines pre-date Indiana Jones as well and the character Indiana Jones draws heavily from Humphrey Bogart. I look at such a gimmick as a homage to that genre, maybe lucasarts wouldn't see it that way, I dunno.

One little detail I think would be cool to see is since Fandango's character would be a historian/archivist - he would narrate his own storylines - for archiving purposes. It would be a little funny and provide a fresh spin on RAW recaps. He would do it in the first-person voice over style of old film noir movies. (think Steve Martin's "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid").

"I was distracted but the Russian blonde with an ass that won't quit, and it was at that moment the shoeless gorilla potatoed me - when I finally came to..."

I also thought it over and the holy grail would be the WWE WHC - to be a part of the greatest history himself would drive him and satiate his ego. To be immortalized among the greatest would be in a way the fountain of youth. He'd have a more romantic take on it than the usual "the belt means I'm the best". I'm not sure he'd ever make it out of the midcard but he could at least be in a field of 8 in a MITB match, I would think.

Anyway thanks for the kind responses, I can imagine this came off a bit wacky to some people.

Oh and from time to time I'd have him backstage delivering an artifact - not every artifact is worthy of an angle and on air adventure but it would provide for some cool easter eggs.

 

[Dagger Dias]

What....?

This is one of the strangest ideas I have ever seen pitched on here before. Ok, first of all... The Hardcore Championship should never come back. Ever. That thing was a joke! You could see constant title changes and due to the randomness and large number of title changes NONE OF THEM MEANT ANYTHING! So you're right in one aspect. The Hardcore Championship is a piece of history, it needs to stay that way. WWE does not properly book ANY of the currently active championships. Until that has been fixed, bringing back one of the old titles is the last thing they should be worried about.

Now, as for the Indiana Jones gimmick.... that would be really weird. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Indiana Jones (except for Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, that never happened) but even Indiana Jones fans may find this weird. As much as I dislike Fandango's current persona, I would take that over this. I do agree 100% on putting Summer Rae back with him though. She can actually wrestle unlike Rosa and the two worked well together. The only title match Fandango should be getting anytime soon is that Tag Team Championship shot he and R-Truth never got for winning the 4th NXT contest. That's right WWE, some of us have not forgotten.

So, it's a no for me on an Indiana Jones gimmick and a BIG no on bringing back the Hardcore Championship in any capacity. Definitely a yes on having Summer Rae work with Fandango again though.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

They kind of had this guy in Xavier Woods, the PHD/Geeky guy and they didn't take it.

There is nothing in Johnny Curtis' locker to say he could pull off this "Indy" character.

Forget the Hardcore title and "artifacts" that's the misnomer here... there is room for a "riproaring but studious hero" and they have the perfect guy ready to come up.

Adrian Neville...

The guy has the swashbuckling style of an Indiana Jones type hero, he's always pictured wearing glasses when not in the ring and is one of the more intelligent guys on the roster as evidenced in his media work... He's the kind of guy who could play a "Dean Douglas" type character and not seem stupid doing it, his acrobatics fit, he has the "Wrestling Professor" vibe about him... why not use that rather than the ridiculous "Mighty Mouse" idea they had?